Two Co Limerick farmers reported unusually high levels of animal health problems on their farms in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Mr Liam Somers and Mr Justin Ryan reported, among other things, that calves were dying and cows were in extremely poor health.
Reports of problems on 25 other farms followed, with concerns about the level of human illness in the area.
The EPA report into the animal health problems in the area looked in detail at research findings in four areas as detailed below.
Human Health
Locals in Askeaton expressed concern about the number of miscarriages, foetal abnormalities and the incidences of cancer in their area. There were reports from locals of skin, eye and respiratory problems. There were also fears environmental pollution was involved.
In their conclusions, investigators said "this study has not found a significant degree of excessive ill health in the Askeaton area".
The study has "not found an explicit link between pollution and ill-health". It did find a "mild excess" in the people who report themselves as being ill. A GP study also found people in the area had "proportionally more worries about rates of miscarriage, serious illness and patient health".
There was no evidence of "an excess of cancer incidence in the risk area" and the study found a "significantly lower level of cancer in the risk area" compared with the MWHB area and the rest of the State. Three birthing studies found no evidence of abnormal ill health.
Animal Health
Problems on the Somers farm were reported to have begun around 1988. The main animal health issues reported were infertility, mortality in cows and growing stock, perinatal calf mortality, diarrhoea in calves and skin lesions in cows and cattle.
Severe animal health problems were reported on the Ryan farm in 1994 and 1995, the main being a high incidence of cows being in poor condition, illness and mortality in cows and growing cattle, abortion, calving difficulty, infertility, and illness and death in calves.
The report said Mr Somers, Mr Ryan and about 4,000 people in the area felt environmental pollution was the key cause of these animal health problems.
The report concluded that certain farms in the area, including the Ryan and Somers farms, had "an unusually high incidence of animal disease and production problems at times from 1988 to 1995".
But there was "little evidence" to suggest this was part of a problem in the wider area, or that "unusual underlying factors, such as environmental pollution, were responsible".
Overall, there was nothing to suggest factors other than those normally considered - "nutrition, management and infectious agents" - needed to be "cited to account for disease incidence in the Askeaton area".
Environmental Quality
Locals said the animal health problems, and the concerns over human health, were caused by environmental pollution, in particular emissions from alumina production at Aughinish Alumina Ltd (AAL), which is located eight kilometres west of the affected farms.
There are also two major ESB plants, Moneypoint and Tarbet, near the affected farms.
Among the pollutants which were suspected to be responsible were aluminium and fluoride, as well as organic compounds such as dioxins and PCBs.
These suspicions were based on information from scientific literature, not from any record of contamination in the area.
The report said "the available data indicate that the Askeaton area was not subject to harmful levels of pollutants during the period of the investigation and this was the position at least since the mid-1980s".
Levels of pollutants measured from the industries were within existing safety limits, the report found.
Soil, Herbage, Feed And Water
Soil was analysed to find evidence of previous inputs that may have contributed to animal health problems at the Somers and Ryan farms.
The report found there was "no evidence that soils were contaminated" by elements deposited by pollution washed out of the atmosphere.