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Businessman fears for family’s
health
19.03.10
by Caoimhinn Barr, Inishowen Independent
A QUIGLEY'S Point businessman, who has lived with
the stench of raw sewage in the air for the past
nine years, now fears for the health of his family
after he and his daughter were hospitalised
recently.
Gareth McMonagle lives and works within thirty yards
of a toxic treatment plant, which has never been
operational and continues to pump raw effluent into
a local waterway.
The sewerage plant belongs to a local housing
development but Gareth’s property, some thirty feet
below, bears the brunt of the odour. |
The air around his
house and business in Carrowkeel, Quigley’s Point is
so thick with pungent gases that Gareth believes it
has caused him and his family numerous ill-health
issues.
“My eight-year-old daughter has been admitted to
Letterkenny Hospital twice with serious stomach
problems. |
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The most recent time
she was in a ward for six days. My son has problems
with asthma, while my wife and me are sick every
other week. We can’t continue like this,” he said.
Gareth, who says he is not someone who complains
lightly, reached the end of his tether when he ended
up in hospital after chronic stomach complaints.
“When they put a camera down my throat I knew it had
gone too far. If I get a deadly disease then it will
be too late for me to fight. When you are young you
think you are unbreakable but as you get older you
realise that you are not,” he said.
“My doctor referred me to hospital because treatment
for a stomach ulcer was not working. They then
discovered that my stomach was full of poisonous
bile. I was vomiting every morning,” Gareth added.
His family also suffer from constant dizzy spells
and nausea. The stink got so bad around Christmas
that Gareth took his family to stay with friends for
five days.
“The smell was worse because everyone in the housing
estate was off at Christmas so the sewerage plant
was venting gas all throughout the day,” he said.
“It was hard to make the decision to leave, because
my daughter still gets Christmas presents from
Santa, but we had no choice. If we stayed, we would
have sat around getting poisoned.
“When we got back after five days and turned the key
to the front door the stink was awful. I had never
been away from the house that long so the gas
must’ve built up inside,” Gareth added.
Both his children are forced to sleep in the same
downstairs room because the smell is at its worst in
the upstairs part of the house at night.
“When I walk into the house and get hit by the fumes
it is very frustrating. We can’t even relax in our
own home. We are embarrassed when visitors call
round because it smells like the house is dirty,”
Gareth said.
In summer Gareth’s house and business is infested
with flies while on a wet day the disgusting odour
lingers for 24 hours. He says his family is trapped
in an ‘unsellable’ house.
In a vain attempt to keep the stench at bay, Gareth
built a high wall around the back of his Carrowkeel
premises a number of years ago.
The Quigley’s Point man, who owns AWS Tyres, also
claims he is also losing business because of his
proximity to the toxic plant.
“Last week a woman, who was booked in to get new
tyres, had to leave because she had a small baby
with her and the stink was terrible. I couldn’t
blame her for going, it was totally understandable,”
Gareth said.
Paying tribute to local Fine Gael Councillor, Mickey
Doherty, Gareth said he felt that the issue may
finally be tackled soon.
“It would be absolute heaven for me and my family to
get a proper sewerage treatment plant installed so
that we can breathe fresh air for the first time in
years,” he said.
Speaking to the Inishowen Independent this week, Clr.
Doherty said it was terrible that Gareth and his
family had to live in such conditions.
“That treatment plant has never worked and it is
extremely hazardous to the health of Gareth and his
family. Somebody needs to make an effort on his
behalf immediately. It has gone beyond control,” he
said.
“I brought the issue up at the Inishowen Electoral
Area meeting last week and I am dealing with the
water pollution authorities to get this matter
sorted as soon as possible.” |
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