The petitions committee of the European Parliament will travel to Drumgoole, Co Kilkenny, to investigate the unexplained health problems of cattle on a local farm.
MEPs on the committee made the pledge yesterday after hearing the experiences of Dan Brennan, a farmer whose herd has suffered from stunted growth, low milk yields and high calf mortality over the past 16 years. They also requested the European Commission to undertake a full review of all scientific reports carried out on the farm.
Despite five years of investigation by the Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and UCD scientists, no definitive source of the animal health problems encountered has yet been found.
However, the evidence gathered so far shows that cattle on the Brennan farm experience growth at half the national average rate and milk yields 30-50 per cent below the national average.
In a presentation to the committee in Brussels, Mr Brennan yesterday outlined the huge emotional stress and financial strain that the health problems experienced by his animals were having on him and his family. He also raised concerns about the potential negative health effects that his four children could be experiencing from the source of the problem.
Mr Brennan said he believed local industry was affecting his farm because he was in the maximum fallout area identified by the EPA. He said that high readings of fluoride were found in the grass at some parts of the farm and he had witnessed the vapour from a local industrial chimney often lying over the farm.
Yet successive scientific studies have not proved any definite link between local industry, which includes a brick factory, and the problems. Ormonde Brick Ltd - the company neighbouring the farm - said there was no link between its plant and the problems on the farm.
"The examinations carried out in this investigation did not find any clinical, pathological or analytical evidence of fluoride toxicity. These findings are also consistent with the results of environmental investigations to date which do not provide any evidence to suggest that animals on the Brennan farm have been exposed to concentrations of fluorides via air, water or feed likely to lead to toxicity," it said in a statement quoting the official investigation by the Department of Agriculture. A commission official also told the petitions committee he could not find any direct link with the activities of the brick factory.
The petitions committee cannot pass judgment on or revoke legal decisions taken by member states. However, it can keep an issue in the public spotlight and put pressure on both the commission and governments to take action, said Mairéad McGuiness, Fine Gael MEP and member of the committee.
Meanwhile, MEPs on the committee also agreed to visit the incinerator plant at Ringsend, which was also the subject of a petition from Chris Andrews, son of the former Fianna Fáil MEP Niall Andrews.
Mr Andrews believes the Government did not give proper consideration to an EU directive that requires it to ensure waste is disposed of without endangering human health or the environment before authorising a plant.
A commission official at the hearing said the commission would analyse very carefully if Dublin City Council had complied fully with EU law governing the original Environmental Impact Assessment scheme into this facility.
It will also seek clarification on the site selection process from the Irish authorities.