LIMERICK City and County Council is engaging directly with companies operating in the Raheen Business Park to help identify a possible source of pollution.
City councillors were told at last week’s Metropolitan District meeting that the council investigation into the environmental concerns in the Loughmore Canal is ongoing.
In response to a question from Social Democrats councillor Elisa O’Donovan, Senior Planner Nuala O’Connell said that the IDA has undertaken targeted sampling in the business park and a report is due imminently.
“The Council has also procured a contractor to carry out sampling on a monthly basis to monitor the profile of the parameters discharging to the canal,” she explained.
The investigation follows an appeal to An Bord Pleanála by Mungret farmer Tom Ryan against the council’s decision to grant planning permission to Eli Lilly for a biopharmaceutical manufacturing campus on the business park.
Expressing concerns over his land being flooded with contaminated water, Mr Ryan claimed that the Loughmore canal, which enters the Barnakyle River through his lands, had not been maintained by the local authority as agreed with local landowners.
