EPA Prosecutes Kilbride Piggeries Limited
On the 19th January 2006 at Virginia District Court, Co Cavan, Kilbride Piggeries Limited pleaded guilty to charges brought by the Environmental Protection Agency in relation to offences under Section 8 and Section 84 (2) of the Environmental Protection Agency Acts 1992 and 2003 for breaches of its IPC Licence (Reg. No. 602).
The Company admitted breaching conditions of its licence by:
1. Failing to place animal tissue and carcasses in covered leak proof container.
2. Disposing of waste on-site in an unacceptable manner.
3. Failing to ensure that a person in charge was available on site to meet with EPA Inspectors.
4. Failing to provide and maintain a rainwater collection and drainage system for all pig housing on-site.
5. Failing to maintain training records for all personnel and written procedures controlling operations affecting the licence, available for inspection.
6. Failing to submit an Annual Environmental Report for 2004.
7. Failing to have an agreement in place with the EPA on the assessment of under and over ground effluent storage tanks pipelines and liquid feed storage tanks.
Breach of these conditions has the potential to impair the local environment and cause contamination of both surface and groundwater.
On hearing details of the offences from an EPA inspector, Judge Anderson imposed fines totalling €14,000 for the Company’s breaches of conditions of its IPC licence. The EPA’s costs of €5,280 were also awarded.
However, at Cavan Circuit Court on 21st July 2006, Kilbride Piggeries Limited successfully appealed the severity of fines arising from an earlier action brought by the EPA. Judge John O’Hagan upheld the appeal and reduced the fines to €5,500 and reduced the Agency’s costs to €2,500. He also awarded the costs of the appeal to the Agency, which he fixed at €2,300.
Kilbride Piggeries was granted an IPC licence (Reg. No. 602) on 3rd September 2003 for the rearing of pigs in installations, whether within the same complex or within 100 metres of that complex, where the capacity exceeds 1,000 units on gley soils or 3,000 units on other soils, and where units have the following equivalents: 1 pig = 1 unit, 1 sow = 10 units. The facility is located at Kilbride, Mountnugent, County Cavan.
This prosecution was taken following a site inspection of the facility undertaken by the Office of Environmental Enforcement on 12th July 2005.