CREWS from Wexford County Council are spending their second day in a major clean up operation on a 70 mile stretch of the county's coastline where large oil deposits have been washed up in the last two days.
The pollution scare has affected three "blue flag" beaches - Rosslare Strand, Courtown and Curracloe - as well as a number of others on the county's southern seaboard.
Wexford County Council described the situation as "a very, serious pollution incident but note a disaster".
The biggest immediate risk was to tourism and human use of the beaches, and the local authority has focused its main clean up on the three blue flag beaches affected.
The pollution lies between the high and low water marks on the beaches, and county council crews have been using diggers and shovels to move the deposits.
Considerable progress was made in the operation yesterday, and crews begin again at first light this morning.
Once the blue flag beaches are cleaned "our efforts will then be concentrated on other beaches of high amenity and bathing value."
The county engineer, Mr Phil Callery, who has responsibility for the operation, could not carry out an aerial inspection of the damage yesterday because of poor visibility. But there are plans to use the Emergency Services Rescue helicopter to undertake the survey today.
The council has asked the public to avoid the affected beaches until the cleaning operation has been completed.
The extent of the pollution varies at different strands, and the council was last night confident that most beaches could be cleaned within a week if there were no further deposits from incoming tides.
The deposits or residue, which are semi solid and globular and look like pieces of coal, were first reported on Thursday by the Kilmore Quay harbourmaster.
Environmental staff discovered that a 20 mile stretch of coastline from Rosslare Strand to Hook Head on the county's southern coast was affected.
But by yesterday morning the pollution was stretching a further 50 or so miles to Courtown.
The south coast of the county was worst affected, with areas like Neamstown, Ballyhealy and Carne showing the biggest buildup of deposits.
Samples of the deposits have", been sent to the Fisheries Research Centre in Dublin for analysis, and results are expected next week.
"There is no established link to any source, but we have certain suspects," Mr Tony Larkin, a county council spokesman, said. He admitted that the oil tanker Sea Empress which ran aground at Milford Haven in Wales last month, disgorging thousands of tonnes of oil into the sea, might be implicated.
"But there are also other suspects" he added. "A vessel could have flushed its tanks at sea. We will have to await the analysis results".
Mr Larkin said that the semi solid condition of the oil indicated that it had been "weathered for a considerable time".
At first, council engineers were reluctant to use machinery be cause of the risk of displacing large quantities of sand, but as the scale of the polluted area became known they had no option but to direct JCBs on to the beach sites.
Mr Larkin pointed out that in a semi solid condition "the oil does not constitute a serious risk to wildlife". The number of contaminated seabirds was estimated yesterday at less than 10. The Irish Wildbird Conservancy and a number of community groups are helping with the clean up.
Mr Larkin pointed out that the council operates on a "polluter pays" basis. He said that if the polluters were local it would be relatively easy to make them pay. The council is also seeking legal advice on how to proceed against pollution from outside the jurisdiction.
The Fianna Fail spokesman on the Marine, Mr John Browne TD, said there was grave concern among people living along the Wexford coast that this could cause damage to tourism, fish stocks, wildlife and the environment.
He called on the Minister for the Marine, Mr Barrett, to make the full resources of his Department available to the council for the clean up operation.
The Tanaiste, Mr Spring, was also "monitoring the situation" yesterday and was satisfied that the necessary action was being taken by the council.