The Mid-Western Health Board is to carry out a further study of the incidence of cancer among residents of the Askeaton area of Co Limerick in collaboration with the National Cancer Registry in Cork.
The Dβil Public Accounts Committee was told yesterday that the health board had spent £1.2 million on earlier studies which showed there was no evidence of greater cancer risk in the area as a result of industrial pollution.
These studies were part of a wider investigation, costing a total of £4 million, of animal health problems in Askeaton, which also involved the Department of Agriculture, Teagasc and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Department, which spent £2 million on its investigations, including the acquisition of one farm, found that though animal disease levels were higher in the area, this was probably due to similar problems found on other farms.
The health board admitted some human blood samples had been mislaid and had publicly apologised for inadvertently misleading those who had supplied them. But it did not have the facilities to carry out tests for chemicals.
Members of the committee, including its chairman, Mr Michael Finucane TD (FG), expressed dissatisfaction with the overall outcome, saying there was still concern among farmers and other residents in the area about pollution. When Mr Finucane noted that the Shannon Estuary had the highest sulphur dioxide emissions in the State, Mr William McCummiskey, chairman of the EPA, said: "If there was a problem, we would have heard from Europe about it."
He also noted that Aughinish Alumina would be seeking permission for a combined heat and power plant, which would substantially reduce emissions, and that the ESB's Moneypoint power station was to be converted from coal to gas usage.
