The signs have been ominous for the future of the Republic's only steel-making plant since January 15th last, when an Ispat employee lost his life in a fire at the Cork Harbour plant, forcing its closure.

The death of Mr Thomas Mulcahy (53), the second Ispat employee to die at the plant since it was taken over by the Indian-owned company in September 1995, brought into focus the level of health and safety procedures operating there.

When the plant was closed to allow an investigation by three separate regulatory authorities - the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) and Cork County Council - it became clear that if it re-opened, it would do so under a different safety regime.

The most crucial of the investigations involved the EPA, which was in the process of preparing an integrated pollution licence for Ispat at the time of the accident. For years, there had been complaints in Cork Harbour that the plant was a major source of environmental pollution through illegal air and dust emissions, and all the signs were that the EPA was preparing to write a particularly stringent licence and one that would have involved the company in major expense.

Some estimates suggested full compliance would have cost Ispat more than £6 million (€7.6 million). There were no assurances to company employees that it was prepared to pay such a price to remain in Cork.

There were other ominous signs. In recent months, Ispat sold 30 acres of land to the Belgian company, Indaver, which is seeking to build a toxic waste incinerator at Ringaskiddy, and a further 14 acres of land were sold to the port of Cork. Ispat was accused of asset stripping but never responded to the accusation and always adopted a policy of saying as little as possible in public.

Ispat sources have told The Irish Times that no parts had been ordered for the plant's annual two-week maintenance shutdown which was due to commence at the end of this month.

In the only interview with an Irish newspaper since Ispat took over from Irish Steel, the chief executive, Mr Gerry Gorman, told The Irish Times in April the steel plant would either pay its way or shut down.

When the plant closed because of last January's fire, the EPA confirmed there had been 15 separate pollution incidents there since June 1st, 1999. Prior to the fire in January, the company had been threatened with a High Court injunction forcing its closure unless dust emissions containing lead particles were made safe.

In November last year, Ispat was prosecuted in the Cork District Court by the Health and Safety Authority following the death of another employee, Mr John Murphy, who was killed when he fell from a crane while working at the plant. The company pleaded guilty to breaches of safety regulations and was fined.

Industrial relations had been fraught at the old Irish steel plant for years. In the early 1980s, it was closed by Mr John Bruton when he was Minister for Finance.