{{Short description|Irish steel producer (closed 2001)}} {{Use Hiberno-English|date=June 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}} {{Infobox company | name = Irish Steel Limited | trade_name = Irish Steel | native_name = Cruach na hÉireann Teoranta<ref name="act1979"/> | native_name_lang = ga | logo = Irish Steel logo - Cropped from 1970s print advert - Back of IRFU rugby programme.png | logo_size = 280px | logo_caption = Irish Steel logo, as used in the 1960s and 1970s. The motto is Irish for "[There is] no strength without steel." | image = | image_caption = | type = Semi-state company | industry = Steel production | founded = {{Start date and age|1939}} | defunct = {{End date and age|2001}} | fate = | successor = Irish Ispat | hq_location = Haulbowline, Cork Harbour | hq_location_country = Ireland | products = {{hlist|Sheet steel |Tinplate }} | revenue = | revenue_year = | owners = {{unbulleted list|Private owner (1939–47)|Irish government (1947–96)|Ispat International (1996–2001)}} | num_employees = 450<ref name="examiner2011"/> | num_employees_year = 2001 | footnotes = }} '''Irish Steel Limited''' ({{langx|ga|Cruach na hÉireann Teoranta}}),<ref name="act1979">{{cite web|url = http://www.acts.ie/ga.act.1979.0013.1.html | publisher = Houses of the Oireachtas | website = acts.ie | title = An tAcht um Ghabháltais Chruach na hÉireann Teoranta (Leasú), 1979 | accessdate = 4 June 2021 | language = Irish | quote = ciallaíonn 'an Chuideachta' Cruach na hÉireann Teoranta }}</ref> later known as '''Irish Ispat Limited''', was an Irish semi-state company which was involved in steel production primarily from a plant on Haulbowline island in Cork Harbour. Originally founded in 1939, the company and its assets were sold to Ispat International (later known as Mittal Steel Company) (for IR£1) in 1996. The company and its plant closed down in 2001.
Dumping of production materials, including toxic waste, resulted in significant contamination of the Irish Steel plant site, and increased the size of Haulbowline island by {{convert|9|ha}}. Campaigners, including Erin Brockovich, pushed for action by the state,<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.irishtimes.com/news/brockovich-backs-cork-residents-over-waste-fears-1.941848 | publisher = Irish Times | website = irishtimes.com | title = Brockovich backs Cork residents over waste fears | date = 1 July 2008 | accessdate = 6 June 2021 }}</ref><ref name="IT2018">{{cite web|url = https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/environmental-campaigners-concerned-over-haulbowline-island-clean-up-1.3491124| publisher = Irish Times | website = irishtimes.com| title = Environmental campaigners concerned over Haulbowline Island clean-up | date = 10 May 2018 | accessdate = 6 June 2021 }}</ref> and €61m was allocated to clean-up the site and to redevelop it as a park.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/61m-clean-up-of-haulbowline-island-behind-target-and-spending-1.3489455 | publisher = Irish Times | website = irishtimes.com | title = €61m clean-up of Haulbowline Island behind target and spending | date = 9 May 2018 | accessdate = 3 June 2021 }}</ref><ref name="notenough">{{cite web|url = https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-20417834.html | publisher = Irish Examiner | website = irishexaminer.com | title = €61m for Haulbowline 'not enough' to convert old steel plant to public amenity | date = 26 August 2016 | accessdate = 4 June 2021 }}</ref> The cleanup and redevelopment project lasted upwards of a decade; from 2011 to 2021.<ref name="remediationproject">{{cite web|url = https://www.corkcoco.ie/en/haulbowline-island-remediation-project | publisher= Cork County Council | website = corkcoco.ie | title = Haulbowline Island Remediation Project | accessdate = 3 June 2021 | quote = The Latest News section of this website provides an outline of the various project milestones }}</ref>
==History== Irish Steel was originally formed as a privately owned firm in 1939, and commenced operations from a steel plant on Haulbowline island, near Cobh in Cork Harbour.<ref name="echopic">{{Cite web|url=https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-40212104.html|title=Pictures: A look back at the opening of Irish Steel in Cork Harbour|date=23 January 2021|website=echolive.ie | publisher = The Echo }}</ref><ref name="examiner1">{{cite news|url = https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-20065984.html | newspaper = Irish Examiner | title = 'This has all been a hush hush job' | date = 26 June 2008 | quote = The Cork Harbour steel plant got up and running in August 1939 as Irish Steel Ltd. Seven years later, the privately owned firm went into receivership. In 1947 the government of the day took over the company's assets }}</ref> This company went into receivership in the 1940s,<ref name="examiner1"/> and in 1947 the then Minister for Industry and Commerce, Seán Lemass, established a state-financed company to acquire its assets and "secure 240 jobs".<ref name="irishtimes2005">{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/plant-s-62-years-spanned-boom-and-bust-as-economy-evolved-1.482817|title=Plant's 62 years spanned boom and bust as economy evolved|publisher =The Irish Times | website = irishtimes.com | date = 22 August 2005 }}</ref><ref name="oireachtas">{{Cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1996-04-03/6|title=Irish Steel Limited Bill, 1996 [Seanad]: Second Stage. – Dáil Éireann (27th Dáil) – Wednesday, 3 Apr 1996 – Houses of the Oireachtas|publisher =Houses of the Oireachtas|date=3 April 1996|website=oireachtas.ie}}</ref>
In 1960, the state's involvement was expanded by the Irish Steel Holdings Limited Act 1960, in what Jack Lynch (by then Minister for Industry and Commerce) described as addressing a "gap which would otherwise exist in [Ireland's] industrial capacity".<ref name="oireachtas"/> By the late 1960s, Irish Steel was producing approximately one-third of steel used by Irish industry.<ref>{{cite journal | journal = Irish Geography | volume = 6 | issue = 1 | date = 1969 | title = The Irish Steel Industry | first = Desmond A. | last = Gillmor | page = 84 | doi = 10.1080/00750776909555649 | quote = About one-third of the steel requirements of the Republic of Ireland is home-producted [...by...] Irish Steel Holdings Limited | doi-access = free }}</ref> At its peak, in 1971, the company employed approximately 1,200 people and had increased production to run 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week.<ref name="irishtimes2005"/> In 1981, responsibility for Irish Steel was transferred from the Minister for Industry and Commerce to the Minister for Energy.<ref>{{Cite ISB|year=1981|type=si|num=288| title = Industry (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 1981 |date=19 August 1981 | accessdate = 3 June 2021 }}</ref>
In 1972, Edward A. Coleman (the general manager of Irish Steel and a member of a delegation from the Confederation of Irish Industry travelling for discussions with EEC officials in Brussels), was among those killed in the Staines air disaster.<ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.irishtimes.com/news/1972-staines-air-crash-recalled-1.82881 | publisher = The Irish Times | title = 1972 Staines air crash recalled | date = 18 June 1997 | accessdate = 4 June 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url = http://www.irishships.com/images/ISL%20Ltd/ISL%20Signals/Summer%201972.pdf | journal = Newsletter Magazine of Irish Shipping Ltd | volume = 10 | issue = 1 | date = 1972 | title = Air Disaster | page = 3 | quote = In a tragic air crash at Heathrow [...] twelve prominent Irishmen in the industrial and commercial life of the country lost their lives. Those involved were [...] Mr. Edward Coleman, General Manager, Irish Steel Holdings [...] The group was on a trip to Brussels for talks in connection with Ireland's entry into the E.E.C}}</ref>
[[File:Irish Steel advert - Early 1990s print advert - Back of IRFU rugby programme.png|thumb|upright|Irish Steel advert (on the back of a matchday programme from the 1991 Rugby World Cup finals) highlighting the company's association with Haulbowline]] A fall in steel prices in Europe during the 1980s led to layoffs at Irish Steel, and the work-force was progressively reduced from 650.<ref name="irishtimes2005"/> The assets of the company were sold to Irish Ispat (a subsidiary of Ispat International), for IR£1, in 1996.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/new-name-as-irish-steel-sold-for-1-1.54447|title=New name as Irish Steel sold for £1|publisher =The Irish Times | website = irishtimes.com | date = 31 May 1996 }}</ref> Under the terms of the sale agreement, the Haulbowline plant was operated under the condition that "£30 million would be invested in the plant and its 330 jobs would be secured" for at least five years.<ref name="irishtimes2005"/> Shortly after this term ended in 2001, the plant was closed and 450 jobs were lost.<ref name="examiner2011">{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-20157917.html|title=Announcement 'imminent' on use of Irish Steel site|first=Sean|last=O'Riordan|date=15 June 2011|website=Irish Examiner }}</ref>
==Controversy== ===Safety=== According to a 2005 article in ''The Irish Times'', "Irish Ispat's tenure at Haulbowline was marked by controversy, with the firm failing to invest" as expected under the negotiated takeover agreement.<ref name="irishtimes2005"/> There were several worker deaths between 1999 and 2001, including that of a lab technician who died in a fire.<ref name="irishtimes2005"/> According to an inquest hearing, the plant's administrative block had no sprinklers, fire escapes or fire alarms, and that the "company's fire engine failed to start because of a flat battery".<ref name="irishtimes2005"/> According to other reports, the plant's safety manager had been refused budget for improved fire-safety training.<ref name="examinerfire">{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-10048978.html|title=Ispat told of risk but ignored fire funds plea|first=Niall|last=Murray|date=25 July 2002|website=Irish Examiner}}</ref>
===Closure=== The plant was closed, with limited notice, by Ispat International in 2001.<ref>{{cite book | title = Cold Steel: Lakshmi Mittal and the Multi-Billion-Dollar Battle for a Global Empire | first1 = Tim | last1 = Bouquet | first2 = Byron | last2 = Ousey | publisher = Hachette | date = 2009| isbn = 9780748111763 | quote = In 2001 he [Lakshmi Mittal] pulled out of the former Irish Steel Haulbowline plant in Cork, which he had bought five years before for £IR1, at a few hours' notice, leaving behind debts of over €57 million and four hundred people jobless [..] the unions criticised Mittal for his instant exit }}</ref> At the time of closure, the company had debts of more than €57m.<ref name="examinerfire"/><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/liquidator-put-into-ispat-as-angry-creditors-meet-1.315474|title=Liquidator put into Ispat as angry creditors meet|first=Dick|last=Hogan|newspaper=The Irish Times | date = 29 June 2001 }}</ref> Reports of land and asset sales, prior to closure, led to some accusations of "asset-stripping" by the parent company.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/steel-plant-stripped-of-assets-before-closedown-26240296.html|title=Steel plant stripped of assets before closedown|website=independent.ie | publisher = Independent News & Media | date = 31 March 2002 }}</ref> One such asset disposal, in the months prior to closure, involved the sale of a 30-acre site (for an undisclosed sum) to build a hazardous waste incinerator to the "fury of local residents".<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/cork-incinerator-approval-is-just-the-latest-chapter-in-a-long-running-saga-1.3515031 | publisher = Irish Times | website = irishtimes.com | title = Cork incinerator approval is just the latest chapter in a long running saga | date = 31 May 2018 | accessdate = 4 June 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/20m-cork-landbank-originally-bought-for-1-26249229.html | publisher = Independent News & Media | work = Sunday Independent | title= £20m Cork landbank originally bought for £1 | date = 17 June 2001 | accessdate = 4 June 2021 | quote = Irish Ispat have already been involved in a bitter clash with the Government over plans to sell-off much of the land formerly controlled by Irish Steel [..] Ispat sold a 30 acre site to the Belgian firm Indaver for their proposed £75 million waste incinerator to the fury of local residents }}</ref> As of 2002, creditors were still owed over €20m, including over €7m due to former-workers for statutory redundancy and other payments.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/irish-ispat-breached-terms-of-deal-26239656.html|title=Irish Ispat 'breached terms of deal'|website=independent.ie | publisher = Independent News & Media | date = 3 March 2002 }}</ref>
===Environmental impact=== thumb|Haulbowline island in 2014, with the Irish Steel "East Tip" site (left) subject to clearance and redevelopment From at least the 1960s, waste materials (including toxic chemicals and steel slag) used in the steel production process were dumped by Irish Steel on the eastern part of Haulbowline island.<ref name="echopic"/> This dumping site became known as the "East Tip",<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rpsgroup.com/projects/haulbowline-island-east-tip-remediation-project/|title=Haulbowline Island East Tip Remediation Project | publisher = RPS|website=rpsgroup.com | accessdate = 3 June 2021 }}</ref> and was described in later reports as one of Ireland's "worst polluted former industrial sites".<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30924224.html | publisher= Irish Examiner | website = irishexaminer.com | title = 'Premature to open park' on polluted Haulbowline site | date = 15 May 2019 | accessdate = 3 June 2021 }}</ref>
The "East Tip" expanded over several decades to include 650,000 cubic metres of waste, extending eastwards from Haulbowline's naval dockyard.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://afloat.ie/port-news/cork-harbour-news/item/41318-haulbowline-island-east-tip-remediation-works-completed|title=Haulbowline Island East Tip Remediation Works Completed | work = Afloat Magazine | date = 14 December 2018 }}</ref><ref name="report2012">{{cite web | url = https://www.corkcoco.ie/sites/default/files/2017-07/East%20Tip%20Factual%20Report.pdf | publisher = Cork County Council | title = East Tip, Haulbowline Island – Factual Report | date = March 2012 | accessdate = 3 June 2021 | archive-date = 11 November 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201111203752/https://www.corkcoco.ie/sites/default/files/2017-07/East%20Tip%20Factual%20Report.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref> The processing waste acted as approximately {{convert|22|acre|ha|sigfig=1}} of land reclamation infill,<ref name="report2012"/><ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.epa.ie/licences/lic_eDMS/090151b2804bf678.pdf | publisher = Environmental Protection Agency | website = epa.ie | title = EastTip Remediation Project, Haulbowline, Co Cork – Volume 2 – Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) | date = October 2013 | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20171117100241/http://www.epa.ie/licences/lic_eDMS/090151b2804bf678.pdf | archivedate = 17 November 2017 | quote = The East Tip is an area of land, approximately 9 hectares in size, reclaimed from the sea by infilling with waste and by-products from the former Ispat steelworks}}</ref><ref>{{cite report | url = http://www.abp.ie/documents/reports/MT0/RMT0001.pdf | page = 3 | publisher = An Bord Pleanála | last = Davis | first = Philip | title = Inspector's Report – East Tip Remediation Project | date = 18 March 2014 | quote = [The] East Tip [..] is a bare expanse area of reclaimed land on the east side of Haulbowline Island in Cork Harbour [..] given as nine hectares [..] formed from waste from the steelworks | access-date = 5 June 2021 | archive-date = 5 June 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210605233105/http://www.abp.ie/documents/reports/MT0/RMT0001.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref> and the dumped materials reputedly increased Haulbowline island from approximately {{convert|60|acres|0|abbr=on}} to over {{convert|80|acres|0|abbr=on}} in size.<ref>{{cite web|title=Your Town – Cork Harbour: Haulbowline Island |url=http://www.passagewestmonkstown.ie/haulbowline-island.asp | publisher = Passage West Town Council | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071118185854/http://www.passagewestmonkstown.ie/haulbowline-island.asp | archive-date = 18 November 2007 | quote = When the dockyard was being built, a further 30 acres of ground was reclaimed, bringing the total area of the island to about 60 acres [..] dumping of process slag from the steel works at Haulbowline has increased the area of the island to over 80 acres}}</ref> According to the terms of planning permission, received by Irish Steel in 1981, there were no controls placed on the material that could be dumped or on protections required to prevent leachate into the harbour.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.irishtimes.com/news/state-sold-haulbowline-steel-plant-on-the-basis-it-was-not-polluted-1.944640 | website = irishtimes.com | publisher= Irish Times | title = State sold Haulbowline steel plant on the basis it was not polluted | date =14 July 2008 }}</ref> By the time of the plant's closure in 2001, radioactive and Chromium 6 contamination was found to have remained in the island's soil.<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.independent.ie/national-news/residents-alarmed-over-toxic-dump-at-former-steel-mills-1421817.html |title= Residents alarmed over toxic dump at former steel mills |date=27 June 2008 |publisher=Irish Independent | website = independent.ie}}</ref><ref name="report2012"/> Campaigners, including Erin Brockovich,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/around-town/campaign-star-erin-falls-ill-on-irish-visit-27886253.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714171553/http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/around-town/campaign-star-erin-falls-ill-on-irish-visit-27886253.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 July 2014 |title=Campaign star Erin falls ill on Irish visit |publisher= Herald.ie |date=22 September 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30892132.html | publisher = Irish Examiner | website = irishexaminer.com | title = Former Cork toxic dump resembling a 'lunar landscape' transformed into park | date = 14 December 2018 | accessdate = 6 June 2021 | quote = campaigner Erin Brokovich was among those who called for the site to be cleaned }}</ref> requested government action on the contamination issue.<ref name="IT2018"/><ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/get-answers-about-toxic-waste-brockovich-urges-26458529.html |publisher= Irish Independent | title=Get answers about toxic waste, Brockovich urges |date = 1 July 2008}}</ref>
As of 2011, it was reported that the contamination at the site had cost the state "more than €50 million — mostly in legal costs".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-20151456.html|title=Ireland faces EU fines over toxic dump site|first=Ann|last=Cahill|date=14 April 2011|website=Irish Examiner}}</ref> As of 2014, €52 million had been spent on clearing the site, with "a further €40 million [earmarked] to make the site safe".<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0319/603190-hearing-into-plan-to-seal-former-irish-ispat-dump/ | publisher = RTÉ | website = rte.ie | title = Hearing into plans for former steel plant in Cork Harbour | date = 19 March 2014 | accessdate = 4 June 2021 }}</ref> While the Environmental Protection Agency had attributed €15.9m of the projected site cleanup costs to Irish Ispat (formerly Irish Steel), the High Court dismissed a claim by the state to have the company's liquidator cover the cost of making the site environmentally safe.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.irishtimes.com/news/state-loses-court-case-over-irish-ispat-site-costs-1.986301 | publisher = Irish Times | website = irishtimes.com | title = State loses court case over Irish Ispat site costs | date = 29 July 2004 | accessdate = 3 June 2021 }}</ref> The Irish government was later threatened with legal action by the European Commission, for a failure to meet its obligations under the Waste Framework Directive.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/haulbowline-clean-up-will-not-include-all-dumps-1.555684|title=Haulbowline clean-up will not include all dumps|first=Tim|last=O'Brien|newspaper=The Irish Times | date = 22 October 2012}}</ref> In 2016, it was reported that the remediation works budget, of €61m, would not be sufficient to complete the full cleanup and redevelopment project.<ref name="notenough"/>
The cleanup and redevelopment of the former Irish Steel "East Tip" site took more than a decade to complete, between 2011 (when the work necessary to prepare a waste licence application was discussed) and 2021 (when the site was opened as a park).<ref name="remediationproject"/> Haulbowline Island Amenity Park was officially opened in January 2021.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-40206965.html | website = echolive.ie | title = Haulbowline Island Amenity Park to open this Friday | date = 14 January 2021 | accessdate = 3 June 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.thecork.ie/2021/01/15/haulbowline-amenity-park-opens-today/ | website = thecork.ie | date = 15 January 2021 | title = Award winning public park opens on former toxic dump – Haulbowline Island, Cork Harbour | accessdate = 3 June 2021 }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Former state-sponsored bodies of the Republic of Ireland Category:Iron and steel mills Category:Defunct manufacturing companies of the Republic of Ireland