Waterford Crystal has said it is now fully compliant with environmental regulations at its glass factory after it was successfully prosecuted for lead pollution.
The company, which employs more than 1,200 people at its glass plant in Kilbarry, Waterford city, pleaded guilty last month to a series of charges of exceeding its allowances in relation to a number of pollutants discharged from the factory. In some cases the emissions were nine times those allowed.
It admitted breaching conditions in its integrated pollution control (IPC) licence in relation to the amount of lead it was allowed to discharge through waste-water emissions, and the amount of fluoride it could discharge through chimney and flue emissions. The company also pleaded guilty to having poor containment measures or "bunding" on fuel storage tanks. It was fined €1,000 on each of the three counts.
The charges were brought by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) following inspections. Yesterday a spokesman for Waterford Crystal said the company was now "fully compliant" in relation to its emissions.
A statement from the EPA also noted that the company had invested "significant capital" since proceedings against it were initiated last October.
It is understood that in recent years the company has undertaken significant investment, believed to be a seven-figure sum, to reduce the amount of lead and fluoride being released.
Sources at the company have indicated that the non-compliance emerged during this upgrading work.
The prosecution was brought following a series of tests over the last five years which showed that the company was exceeding by a significant degree the amount of lead it was allowed to emit to sewers.
It also followed three different audits by the EPA since 1998, all of which found non-compliance.
The lead is contained in waste water from the production of the crystal, which ends up in the main Waterford City Council sewer. It is eventually discharged into the sea.
The waste water, which is treated to neutralise acid, is allowed to have limited levels of lead under its IPC licence.
In 2002 and 2003 three tests of effluent emissions found levels of lead up to nine times that allowed under its licence.
In February 2003 levels of lead were found to be 36.8 milligrammes per litre, compared with a level of five milligrammes allowed under the licence.
An audit by the EPA last year also found that the factory was exceeding the amount of hazardous fluoride gases it is allowed to discharge into the atmosphere.
According to Environmental Protection Agency documents, the EPA issued Waterford Crystal with a legal notice in November 2002 ordering it to undertake work to improve its compliance rate, giving it a deadline of three months to complete the works.
According to the documentation, the company had still failed to reply to the notice by October 2003, and the non-compliances continued during that period.