Clean bill of health from toxins for South Park

South Park has finally received a clean bill of health following a soil contamination scare there eight years ago.

Results from retests of the soil at South Park shows that there is now no risk to human health and there is actually no need to remediate the site.

Councillor Catherine Connolly, who has campaigned to have the site of the contamination retested to ensure it’s public safety, said she welcomed the results.

Eight years ago the soil at some parts of South Park was found to contaminated due to the discovery of toxic materials, mostly the highly hazardous lead.

The part was then closed off from the public and some remediation works were carried out but later reports still didn’t give Galway City Council the green light to re-open it in full. It’s use had been limited.

Since then it had been left unused as it was believed to be hazardous to public safety – that part of South Park was the site of a former landfill dating back to the seventies.

Yesterday, Cllr Connolly said it was extraordinary that it had taken the best part of eight years for the Council to carry out soil tests and that just over a year ago the Council announced a time frame for rolling out a masterplan for completion by the end of last year, which would have included remediation works.

“Over the past eight years use of the park has been limited to the public and sporting clubs because of the soil contamination identified in the consultants reports and the inherent health and safety risk posed. These reports have cost a substantial amount of tax payers money.

“More than eight years after the soil contamination was first highlighted, the public is being informed that no remediation works are necessary and that the next step in the long saga is for the City Council to apply to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a certification of authorisation for the site. This documentation is apparently currently being prepared by the relevant Council department,” she said.

And though she acknowledged that the news was positive, she found it unbelievable that a masterplan for South Park had been postponed all this time due to a soil contamination that no longer appeared to pose any danger to the public.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.