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EPA Prosecutes Donegal Meat Processors

The EPA prosecuted a well-known Donegal animal slaughtering facility on Monday, 10th January 2005.

The company, Donegal Meat Processors Limited, pleaded guilty to offences under the EPA Acts, 1992 and 2003 in Letterkenny District Court for breaches of the conditions of their integrated pollution control (IPC) licence.

The offences related to:

  • The lack of adequate management and operational practices at the wastewater Treatment Plant, which resulted in the inability of the EPA to fully monitor and enforce the activity on-site. This was evidenced by: 
    • Not notifying the EPA of a breakdown of their monitoring equipment and
    • Failing to ensure that monitoring equipment was operating at all times;
    • Failing to submit monthly monitoring reports of process effluent;
    • Giving false and misleading information by intentionally submitting inaccurate monitoring reports to the OEE.

 

  • Failure to manage waste in a manner required by the licence, increasing the potential for pollution to ground by:
    • The disposal of waste to an unauthorised location;
    • Failing to maintain an organic waste register;
    • Failing to carry out the testing of bunds;
    • Failing to ensure that provision was made for the collection and proper disposal of leachate run-off generated by wastes stored on open ground;
    • Failing to submit a report to the EPA on the assessment and inspection of all on-site and off-site waste storage facilities;
    • Failing to ensure that all landspreading activities were undertaken in accordance with a nutrient management plan so as to ensure environmentally sound application of organic waste to ground.

After hearing evidence from an OEE inspector, Judge O’Donnell imposed fines totalling €5,200 and the EPA’s costs of €14,110 were also awarded.

Donegal Meat Processors is involved in the slaughtering of cattle and sheep at its site in Drumnashear, Carrigans, Co Donegal. The company was issued an IPC licence for the slaughtering of animals where the daily capacity exceeds 1,500 units on 16 September 1998.

This prosecution was taken following the outcome of site investigations undertaken by the Office of Environmental Enforcement.

This is the second prosecution of this company by the EPA, the first of which was taken on 27 January 2000.