Asbestos alert at swimming pool

July 1989

An asbestos scare has forced the closure of Wexford Corporation’s swimming pool in Ferrybank, where major remedial works are to be carried out to eliminate a possible health hazard.

The closure was ordered on Monday night after Corporation officials and healthy inspectors considered a report from Eolas, the industrial research body, on air samples from the pool.

One of the three air samples taken by Eolas inspectors last month indicated ‘a potential problem’, Co. Manager, Noel Dillon, revealed in a statement this week.

The asbestos problem centres around an insulation sound shield on the ceiling and walls of the pool, which was built as a town amenity in 1973.

The original plans failed to specify what material was used, but the Eolas report shows it is a form of asbestos – a substance which can give rise to respiratory problems and can also be cancer-causing.

The Co. Manager stressed that the level of carbon in the problem air sample was low, but said he decided to close the pool on the advice of the Co. Medical Officer.

Experts are now to be called in to pinpoint the extent of remedial action needed – the ceiling and walls of the pool will either be sealed, or the asbestos removed altogether. And the costs involved are expected to be substantial.

Action Co. Manager Adrian Doyle pointed out however that the actual risk at the pool to public health is minimal.

‘ The levels we are talking about are very low. They are much less than those which would be considered acceptable for a workplace,’ he pointed out.

Asst. Co. Medical Officer, Nora Liddy, agreed. ‘I would almost go so far as to say that the risk wouldn’t be any more dangerous that smoking a cigarette,’ she said.