A judge today called for a taskforce to be set up to prevent an impending environmental disaster in the midlands.
Over four million gallons of slurry are on the verge of leaking from a largely unauthorisedpiggery in Co Longford into major lakes, a shocked Longford District Court heard yesterday.
“This is a toxic site and I want to hear proposals”, Judge Seamus Hughes said.
Pig farmer Donal Connaughton (56) has admitted three charges of causing or permitting deleterious matter (slurry) to fall into the water courses, just 1 kilometre from his property at Elfleet, Newtowncashel, Co Longford in March of last year.
The court heard that there are up to 25 massive slurry tanks both above and below ground at the now disused piggery which covers 8,000 square metres.
About half of the total area comprises unauthorised developments and Mr Connaughton made the situation worse by removing the roofs of slatted structures in order to comply with a demolition order sought by Longford Co Council, the court was told.
The pig farmer was prosecuted by the Inland Fisheries Board and Senior Fisheries Environmental Officer, Michael Fitzsimons told Judge Hughes that, when he carried out an inspection in March 2013, a number of pipes at the farmyards were discharging slurry onto the yard and down into Lough Slawn which in turn feeds into Lough Ree.
The judge was told that at any one time during production, 14,000 pigs would be on the property. Production had been halted in recent years after Mr Connaughton ran into financial difficulties and he was now surviving on social welfare.
Mr Fitzsimons agreed with the judge that the situation amounted to a disaster waiting to happen.
Shown a picture of one of the large tanks on the farm containing slurry and rainwater Judge Hughes described it “one of the most frightening photographs ever shown to this court”. He compared the size of the tanks to those at an oil terminal.
Consulting engineer, Brendan Mulligan said he had been engaged by Longford Co Council to advise on emergency works to deal with the situation at the pig farm.
While the council had been taking some of the slurry away in tankers, there was a risk that the tanks would overflow in the event of prolonged heavy rain. He agreed with the judge that it was in effect a fire-brigade action.
Judge Hughes said: “The Department of the Environment and the EPA need to know everything that’s going on. It’s a gravely serious situation…it appears to me that the IFA have to be involved also.”
He told Mr Connaughton that he was holding him 100 per cent responsible for the situation.
“He is the author of his own misfortune…he has created a monster at his homestead — 95 per cent of his property is covered in concrete”, he said.
Under questioning by a solicitor for the Fisheries Board, Mr Connaughton agreed that he had done nothing to remove the slurry after being instructed to do so by the council.
Judge Hughes adjourned the case to next month to hear from the Council and other parties about possible solutions to prevent further pollution from the pig farm.