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Irish Steel Mill

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  • Somebody needs to make a video
    Meh.

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    • I may finish work slightly earlier tomorrow...


      Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.

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      • Gone as of 17.40. Lots of dust.......

        Attached Files
        Last edited by Goldie fish; 6 July 2008, 20:54.


        Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.

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        • Good man Goldie.
          Meh.

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          • Certainly frees up a lot of space on the island.

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            • Theres a great view of the Island from my school..it looks weird I can tell you..very wide open and flat.

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              • Thank you Goldie for sharing those images and video
                Only the dead have seen the end of war - Plato

                "Where there is no guidance the people fall, but in abundance of counselors there is victory" Proverbs 11-14
                http://munsterfireandrescue.com

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                • Irish Times - 22-08-05
                  Plant's 62 years spanned boom and bust as economy evolved
                  Barry Roche - Southern Correspondent

                  The Ispat site crumbled latterly under lack of investment, poor safety and falling global steel prices, writes Barry Roche.

                  This week's start of the clean-up operation of the former Irish Ispat plant on Haulbowline in Cork Harbour marks the first step in the process of rehabilitation of the island, after over 60 years as the home of Ireland's heaviest industrial activity.

                  Originally opened in August 1939 as Irish Steel Ltd at a cost of £500,000, the privately-owned firm went into receivership in 1946. A year later, the Government purchased the company's assets and nationalised the industry to secure some 240 jobs.

                  The 1960s saw boom times at Irish Steel with new furnaces allowing production increase to seven days a week, 24 hours a day, with staff numbers rising to a peak of 1,200 in 1971. Then the economic crisis of 1973 triggered the start of turbulent times for the plant.

                  The Government had already invested some £65 million in the plant to prepare it for increasing competition, but the collapse of steel prices in Europe in the 1980s led to further hardships and staff numbers at the plant were progressively cut back from 650.

                  Throughout the 1980s, the plant was beset with difficulties. Workers accepted a pay freeze in 1986 before recording a £2 million profit in 1989 - only for the company to record losses in the 1990s, leading to further rationalisation and job cuts.

                  Eventually, in 1996, the State wrote off debts of £27.5 million and sold Irish Steel to Indian company Ispat International Group for £1. This was on the understanding that £30 million would be invested in the plant and its 330 jobs would be secured under a five-year plan.

                  Steel prices dropped on the world market and sales fell to their lowest level in 10 years but, in 1998, Irish Ispat - as the new company was called - broke even for the first time in 10 years. But sales fell again in 1999 when the company lost £1.8 million.

                  In May 2001, Irish Ispat sought a 10 per cent pay cut from staff, while it also sought to increase annual production to 420,000 tonnes - 70,000 tonnes more than its previous highest output - in order for the plant to survive.

                  But on June 15th, 2001, just days after the terms of its five-year deal with the Government expired, Irish Ispat announced it was closing the plant with accumulated losses of £10 million and losses running at an unsustainable £750,000 a month.

                  The closure led to the loss of 400 jobs, while Irish Ispat also left debts of £45 million - including £23.7 million it claimed it owed to its parent company Ispat International, as well as £4.2 million owed to workers. Irish Ispat's tenure at Haulbowline was marked by controversy, with the firm failing to invest in the plant as it had promised when it took over Irish Steel. It also sold off land in Ringaskiddy just prior to closure, which led to accusations of asset-stripping.

                  Irish Ispat's ownership of the plant was also marked by tragedy. In April 1999, Cobh man John Murphy died when he fell from the gantry of a crane, while in March 2001, a British engineer suffered massive burns when he was electrocuted and died some weeks later.

                  In January 2001, lab technician Thomas Mulcahy lost his life in a fire at the plant's administrative block. An inquest heard the building had no fire alarms, sprinklers or fire escapes, and that the company's fire engine failed to start because of a flat battery.

                  Siptu revealed a proposal to set up a safety committee was vetoed by Irish Ispat, while former plant safety manager Brian Purcell revealed that he had been refused a budget - estimated at €15,000 - to introduce a better fire-safety training regime.

                  Irish Ispat had applied for an integrated pollution control (IPC) licence in 1999 from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This followed years of lobbying by environmentalists who had campaigned for tighter controls on emissions from the ageing steel plant.

                  In March 2001, the EPA issued a draft IPC licence with some 15 conditions attached, relating to emissions, noise and waste management, but Irish Ispat closed the plant before ever implementing any of these.

                  Indeed, the company cited the conditions as one of the factors in its decision to close and, after the EPA failed in a court bid in July 2004 to oblige the liquidator, Ray Jackson, to fund the clean-up, the State has now been left to foot the €30 million clean-up bill.

                  © The Irish Times


                  Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.

                  Comment


                  • 27 September 2006

                    Hazardous steel mill waste ‘will be gone by November’



                    By Sean O’Riordan
                    ALL hazardous waste stored at the former Irish Ispat steel plant at Haulbowline, Co Cork, will be shipped out to Germany for disposal in November.


                    Sharon Corcoran, Cork County Council’s director of infrastructural services, said that the waste is stored at warehouses adjacent to the plant. It is understood that the remaining hazardous waste is primarily chemical, as asbestos was removed last December.

                    Ms Corcoran said the clean up of the site was substantially completed. She added that negotiations are underway to have all buildings on the island demolished by January and all the scrap steel is being transported to Spain.





                    Meanwhile, thieves who made off with €20,000 of scrap from the site don’t need to worry about their haul glowing in the dark. Cork County Council has confirmed that it was not radioactive.

                    In reply to Councillor John Mulvihill, she confirmed that scrap steel, which had been cut on site and stored there, had been stolen. She said she understood that insurance companies would foot the bill.

                    “All that remains on site is general sludge and timber and we’re also in negotiations (with companies) to remove that,” she said.

                    Mr Mulvihill said a lot of people were worried that there might be contamination under the island. He asked her what plans were in place to deal with that, especially as Minister for Enterprise, Micheál Martin, had recently unveiled plans for a new hotel and marina on the site.

                    “There is no plan at present to remediate the site underground. That is a matter for the Government to address,” Ms Corcoran said.

                    She said the council had been initially appointed as agents for an “over ground” clean-up by the Department of the Environment.

                    However, she said a full report and estimated costs for the clean up had been sent to the department.

                    Refusing to quote the cost, because the report was yet to be made public, Ms Corcoran added that any further measures needed were a matter for the Government to dictate.

                    “The Department of Environment will pay for 100% of the costs for any clean up,” she said. It has been estimated that it could cost up to €30 million.

                    Ms Corcoran added that any plans for construction of a marina and hotel on the site would be dependent on clearance from county councillors. They will have to vote to amend the County Development Plan as the land is zoned for industrial use only


                    Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.

                    Comment


                    • You have got to be joking!

                      : Jesus H Christ on a crutch! Hotel and F*****g Marina!!???
                      Haven't the idots in Enterprise got any idea about security? Just cause the shinners have gone quiet ...
                      How vocal have DoD been about this?
                      Well if that comes off kiss goodbye to anything approaching the MEKO 200 as an option for MPV.
                      Last edited by Pod; 27 September 2006, 21:35.

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                      • Have you been there lately?

                        The site not used by the NS is huge. You can build anything you like there and the occupants would have no access to the basin.
                        Basically the southern half of the Island, from a line from the main gate to the edge of the Graving dock is what they are talking about.

                        It was a commercial factory for the last 80 odd years without there being any incidents.

                        Collins Barracks is next door to a prison and there hasn't been any security risks there....


                        Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.

                        Comment


                        • No.

                          A Marina without access to the basin- I d like to see how that will work.
                          As for Collins- all the feckers are locked up and don't exactly have balcony views over the facility.
                          How long do you think it would be before some asrewipe with brown envelopes full of cash complains about having those nasty grey boats with guns spoiling their view/upsetting their customers.
                          What'll happen then?Spineless, populist and self-serving politicians will get invovled ...
                          I would very much like to be wrong, but histroy- distant and recent -doesn't cause me to hold out too much hope.

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                          • There is nothing finalised for the site. The marina, hotel, sydney opera house Cork style or whatever are just proposals. Nothing written in stone.


                            Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.

                            Comment


                            • well i certainly enjoyed that - who thought steel mills could be so interestin? credit to goldie for the pics!
                              But there's no danger
                              It's a professional career
                              Though it could be arranged
                              With just a word in Mr. Churchill's ear
                              If you're out of luck you're out of work
                              We could send you to johannesburg.

                              (Elvis Costello, Olivers Army)

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                              • One of the hot topics in my year is that theres a video of the Steel collapsing on Youtube.com..Goldie you are famous in Colaiste Muire now!

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