Residents near dump fuming over smells

June 1998

Residents living close to the county dump at Ballymurtagh, Avoca, are fuming this week because toxic gasses are spewing into the air following a significant mine shaft collapse.

And they are calling on the county council to halt dumping at Ballymurtagh immediately to avoid putting further pressure on the labrinth of mine shafts which have been flooded with billions of gallons of water.

Concerned that last week’s mine shaft collapse puts a question mark over how safe all the shafts are, the residents wonder is a catastrophe waiting to happen with Avoca Valley being in danger of being swempt away under a deluge of water from the mines which closed down at the beginning of the 1980s.

Already the council is working on upgrading the Red Road for access so as to get another two year out of the Ballymurtagh dump. But the area where they plan the dumping has experienced slippage before and is right about the collapse.

But County Secretary Bryan Doyle this week explained that the collapse was in a drain linking into a main mine shaft. He said that the gas emissions were being monitored by their techinical experts and were not of a level to give cause for concern.

They had opened up the drain to take the necessary action to ensure that it flowed freely. After the collapse last week, the council had mining experts look at the situation and at that stage they put up warning signs and wire fencing.

But local resident Paul Doyle, Ballygahan, one of ten to 12 families living close to the area of the collapse, said the toxic casses were so bad you wuld feel sick if you walked past. ‘It is intolerable and we are very upset, annoyed and concerned about the situation,’ he said.

He said the residents would also be concernted about the prospect of another 100,000 tons of refuse being dumped at Ballymurtagh, as that would put further pressure on the mine shaft structure and already there had been some slippage in the area.

But Mr Bryan Doyle said that they were continuing to monitor the situation and there was no major concern. Senior Engineers were at the site and the residents were being kept informed.

‘We are happy with the way the situation is progressing,’ he said. ‘Anything we do will be done in a careful way. We are happy with the safeguards we are taking and have taken in the past. We are happy that the collapsed drain in just one mine shaft is in hand and work is progressing in a safe manner.’