Farmers in Askeaton, Co Limerick, have invited a Dáil committee to investigate their concerns about a tailings pond on the Aughinish Alumina-Glencore site.
The Cappagh Farmers' Support Group wants to meet the Dáil Committee on Marine and Natural Resources to discuss the red mud pond. They said they had concerns about the health effects on their children, families and animals. The group said they had contacted the Oireachtas committee because its members had visited the Silvermines tailings pond in January. "Our group are requesting that your committee would extend the same investigation to the Limerick families as you did to the Tipperary families..." the letter to the committee clerk read.
The Aughinish Alumina tailings pond is made up of red mud, the main by-product after alumina is extracted from bauxite ore.
The Cappagh Farmers' Support Group said people had been complaining about red dust coming on to their property for many years, "but no one has been taking action or responsibility for this".
A spokesman for Aughinish Alumina declined to comment on the farmers' request to the Oireachtas committee. However, it is understood that the company would vigorously reject any suggestion that the tailings pond was toxic or dangerous.
The Cappagh Farmers' Support Group has already called for an investigation of the State's handling of the inquiry into unexplained animal deaths in the Askeaton area. They estimate that some 1,500 animals have died mysteriously in the past 10 years, with several thousand more suffering illnesses. A €5 million inquiry into the deaths led by the Environmental Protection Agency failed to pinpoint the exact cause of the animals' ill-health but said the most likely causes related to infection, nutrition and farm management.
The Minister for Agriculture has ruled out any investigation into the State's handling of the inquiry. A spokesman for the Department of Agriculture said the Minister saw no basis for revisiting the matter as there had already been "a most comprehensive and searching investigation".
