The latest fatality at the former Irish Steel plant in Cork is the second involving employees of the new Indian owners, ISPAT, who took over the facility in September 1995. Under Irish Steel management, a third worker died when he was electrocuted in January 1993.
ISPAT has been involved in 15 incidents since June 1st, 1999, for which it was cited by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). These included 11 illegal air and dust emissions, two operational incidents during which the plant malfunctioned due to human error and two others logged by the agency under the heading explosion/ fire.
Within the past 10 days, the company was threatened with High Court action by the EPA unless it brought dangerous dust emissions containing lead particles under control.
According to EPA sources, the operation of the plant in Cork Harbour, the only steel manufacturer in the Republic, has given rise to concern for some time. The delay in issuing an integrated pollution licence (IPC), which ISPAT applied for on June 9th, 1999, has been due to the number of complaints (29) lodged against it.
The delay is also because the EPA has had to ask three times since the licence application for more information. Such requests were made in July and October of 1999 and in April of last year. Ironically, the EPA is understood to be within weeks of issuing the IPC to ISPAT.
It is understood the latest accident, which is being investigated on three fronts, is unlikely to delay the licence.
The 29 complaints received were from people living and working in the Cork Harbour area, including officers of the Naval Service headquarters at Haulbowline, where the steel plant is located.
As part of the licensing process, the EPA sent officials to visit a number of European steel plants to establish the appropriate technical responses the agency would need to make to ISPAT. They have also had several meetings with senior ISPAT management.
Concern about the operation of the steel mill has been voiced since 1979/80 when air emissions were licensed under a Cork County Council planning permission.
However, because it was an existing plant, the steel mill escaped the provisions of the stricter 1987 Air Pollution Act which began to bring the pharmachemical sector operating in Cork Harbour under control.
"There has been no thorough review of the environmental position concerning the operation of the plant since 1979/80," the EPA sources said.
The original Irish Steel plant had long been a drain on State resources and many millions of pounds were pumped into it over the decades to shore it up. Several rationalisation plans brought industrial action at the plant.
On September 6th, 1996, the minister for enterprise and employment, Mr Richard Bruton, announced the sale of Irish Steel to ISPAT.
Under the terms of the sale, the Government paid ISPAT £20,273,500, wrote off an old Exchequer loan of £17 million and transferred the shareholding to the Indian company for £1.
Prior to the death of Mr Thomas Mulcahy (53) yesterday, there was one other fatality at the ISPAT plant when Mr John Murphy lost his life when he fell from a crane on April 4th, 1999. The third employee who died, when the plant was in Irish Steel ownership, was Mr Keith Lynch, who was electrocuted on November 23rd, 1994.