New tests to be carried out on South Park soil

Galway City Council will now carry out their own tests on the soil at South Park to establish what levels, if any, of lead poisoning still exists before they carry out their masterplan for the area.

Councillor Catherine Connolly, who lives near South Park in the Claddagh, described it as one of the biggest ‘derelict sites’ in the city.

She said she couldn’t believe that after the initial findings of lead poisoning in the soil at South Park seven years ago that the Council still hadn’t completed their remedial works or started a proposed masterplan for the amenity.

“In 2010, the whole process was to be completed within 18 months, but we are still waiting. I am asking the City Manager to take over the project. I am still waiting for reports and I have had no clarification on the masterplan,” she said.

Director of Services, Joe O’Neill said he had issued two reports on it in the past three months. Consultants, he said, had been paid €30,000 on preparing a masterplan and proposals to remediate the private gardens in the area.

“This is going on for some time and the test results taken initially were different to levels of contamination found later in the private gardens, so we are going to carry out our own tests now on the South Park site,” said Mr O’Neill.

The level of remediation work would then depend on the level of contamination found in the local soil in South Park and the surrounding Frenchville area, which used to be the location of the city dump.

There is funding also proposed for the examination of the classification of the material in South Park itself following the findings and discussion with the Environmental Protection Agency.

Kevin Swift, Director of Services, said there had been concerns about flooding due to the proposed work at South Park raised by the Claddagh Residents Association and, as part of a consultative process, they went back to the residents to reassure them that the risk of flooding would be alleviated by the remediation work.