{"id":566332,"date":"2026-07-24T17:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T17:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/566332\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T17:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T17:56:08","slug":"dairy-firm-suspended-over-pollution-is-allowed-to-restart-operations-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/566332\/","title":{"rendered":"Dairy firm suspended over pollution is allowed to restart operations \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A dairy company ordered to suspend operations over repeated pollution incidents has had the suspension lifted by the Environment Protection Agency<\/a> (EPA). <\/p>\n

North Cork Creameries in Kanturk, Co Cork<\/a>, is allowed to restart operations on a phased basis, but must also submit a report by August 31st addressing outstanding issues. <\/p>\n

Those include explaining why some pollution test results it submitted in recent weeks showed lower readings than when the EPA tested the samples.<\/p>\n

North Cork Creameries must also provide plans to show how facilities at its wastewater treatment plant are sufficient for long-term pollution control for the Allow river into which it discharges. <\/p>\n

It must also provide proposals for continuous monitoring of pollutants at key points on the river instead of sampling at intervals. <\/p>\n

A statement from North Cork Creameries welcomed the EPA\u2019s decision to lift the suspension. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis follows a four-month extensive programme of design, implementation and testing of the necessary improvements and mitigations required to ensure that the highest standards are met and consistent compliance is maintained,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorth Cork Creameries supports the work of the EPA and endorses the rigorous reviews conducted by the EPA throughout this period, which has enabled the co-operative to put best practices in place.\u201d <\/p>\n

However, Social Democrats<\/a> environment spokesperson Jennifer Whitmore raised questions about the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be concerned that the actions the EPA is now requiring were not addressed before the suspension was lifted,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m particularly concerned that testing by the company and testing by the EPA showed significantly different results very recently. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn cases such as this, I think independent monitoring should be required prior to a suspension being lifted.\u201d <\/p>\n

Problems at North Cork Creameries emerged during the investigation into the country\u2019s largest fish kill in the Munster Blackwater last August. <\/p>\n

The company was cleared of involvement<\/a> in that incident, but it emerged it had a record of repeated breaches of wastewater discharge limits, with ammonia levels on one occasion 50 times higher than permitted.<\/p>\n

The EPA repeatedly issued directions for improvements, but eventually suspended the discharge licence in November<\/a>, reinstating it in January. <\/p>\n

It was suspended again in February and lifted on Thursday. <\/p>\n

The EPA, in its letter to the company, warned it that it risked further suspension if it failed to comply with all conditions. <\/p>\n

In relation to the differing test results, the EPA said: \u201cThe licensee is required to review the licensee\u2019s sampling and monitoring procedures and carry out a comparative analysis to determine why there is a difference in reported results. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe EPA may carry out an audit to observe the licensee\u2019s sampling and monitoring methods to verify that standard methods are being correctly deployed.\u201d <\/p>\n

North Cork Creameries said it was committed to continuing engagement with the EPA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A dairy company ordered to suspend operations over repeated pollution incidents has had the suspension lifted by the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[46,246,11654,61,60,82,1419],"class_list":["post-566332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-cork","tag-environment","tag-environmental-protection-agency-epa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-social-democrats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}