Demonstration against "disposal" of cyanide by explosion in Wicklow

by local protestor Tue Jun 17, 2008 19:46

On the 23rd of June,a private contractor will dispose of 15kg of Hydrogen Cyanide on the land of the Kilbride Army Camp in the Dublin/Wicklow Mountains. This land is in the catchment of the Blessington Lakes, Dublin's main water supply, and within 10 miles of Dublin City Centre. The Kilbride Army Camp borders a Special Area of Conservation.

The Hydrogen Cyanide is being disposed of on behalf of Rentokill and South Dublin County Council, but rather then sending the toxic waste for incineration in a chemical incinerator, they intend to attach an explosive charge to the canisters, in a manner that would appear to be 'dispersal' rather than disposal.

The Army will establish a 1km exclusion zone around the site, and will request that locals vacate their homes for up to a week, and are requesting that grazing animals be removed from the mountains for an unspecified amount of time. Within the exclusion zone there is a commercial salmon hatchery that depends on the pristine water conditions of the Shankill River, a tributary of the River Liffey.

All locals families are opposed to this plan, and would ask why is this disposal/dispersal of toxic waste being done in such a manner in such an unsuitable location. Why is the water supply of a million people being endangered in this way? Why is the toxic waste not being sent for proper disposal?

by Pat Dunne CWAG - Community & Workers Action Group Thu Jun 19, 2008 00:32

Residents from Walkinstown and Greenhills are assembling at Walkinstown Cross Roads at 4.00pm on Friday 20th to hold a public protest in solidarity with the residents of West Wicklow and to express their own outrage regarding the storage of Cyanide by Rentokill in the industrial estate that borders their own residential estates.

The purpose of the demonstration is to create public awareness of the immediate situation and to bring public pressure on Rentokill and SDCC to cancel their plans to dispose of this highly dangerous chemical until their has been full public consultation and investigation by the EPA and other competent authorities.

The protest is at Walkinstown roundabout as it is the closest prominent location to the Rentokill
storage facility in the nearby Ballymount Industrial Estate. It is timed for 4.00pm to allow protesters proceed on to the main protest at the Kilbribe Rifle Range in Wicklow at 6.00pm.

The message must be put out loud and clear to put peoples safety and the environment before Rentokill's profits

Join us on Friday at 4.00pm

by CWAG Thu Jun 19, 2008 22:55

Bus routes to walkinstown roundabout

77. 77A , 77B 19A and 156

by billy idle Fri Jun 20, 2008 02:15

When i first read about this I thought it was someones idea of a sick joke. This surely flouts every regulation in the book both at a national and EU level. The locals are very right to be concerned since no governemnt agency appears to want to accept responsiblity if anything goes wrong. Especcially as it is increasingly clear that this method of disposal appears to be a dodgy experiment that has never been tried anywhere before

This is yet another glaring example of the EPA's abject failure to fuflll their remit leading to more and more communties and their environment being exposed to unacceptable risks while big business is indulged at every turn. From Askeaton to Castlecomer and from Rossport and Usk and everywhere in between the EPA continues to demonstrate that it simply is not up to the job.

PS : It would help if the Green Party got the finger out and cleaned up the EPA's board of mangement which like many disfunctional state agencies such as the HSE is seriously contaminated with IBEC types.