Zyklon B Gas Disposal Welcomed

Saturday, 19 July 2008

Following the surprise disposal today of 15kg of lethal Hydrogen Cyanide, there have been calls for the resignation of Wicklow County Manager Eddie Sheehy and South Dublin Project Manager John Quinlivan by Cllr. John Brady of Sinn Féin. "It was only after Sinn Féin uncovered this crazy scheme to blow up the gas -- made infamous by the Nazis as Zyklon B -- did county officials attempt to dispose of the chemical safely," Brady said. Gerry O'Neill of the Kilbride Action Group welcomed the safe disposal, adding, "It is an awful pity Wicklow and Dublin could not have determined the safe way to dispose of the poison gas initially instead of cooking up this crackpot scheme to blow it up in Manor Kilbride." Both O'Neill and Brady were also scathing about the Green Party's silence on the whole issue. "We heard a lot of talk  from them before they went in to government. They would fall in to paroxysms of outrage if someone left the tap running while brushing their teeth. Now that a genuine environmental issue has arisen and the Greens were actually in a position to do something about it, we got a shameful silence," O'Neill. Paying tribute to Kilbride Action Group's work, Brady added that Sen. Deirdre De Burca from Co. Wicklow also "fell under a strange and extremely uncharacteristic and prolonged spell of silence regarding a chemical explosion. A chemical explosion in, of all places, a National Park and Special Area of Conservation. The mind boggles at these people." "They went to ground and abandoned their supporters and the people of Wicklow and South Dublin. In fact, Wicklow County Council discussed this issue several weeks ago. A proposal was made to write to Environment Minister John Gormley with their concerns. When it came to a vote, all were in favour except the Greens! They are unbelievable. This is just another incident to add to their catalogue of shame since joining Fianna Fail," Brady said. "The proposed explosion of the Nazi concentration camp gas was crazy. Concerned residents did the research and found out quickly that the gas is best disposed of by neutralising it. Yet the Army, Guards and Fire Services were enlisted in to this madcap scheme to set off an explosion under some diesel. This is the sort of plan that could only be dreamed up by bored teenagers," Brady said. Brady also called on Joe Behan TD of Fianna Fail to "stop pretending to be in opposition." Behan recently called on Environment Minisiter John Gormley to "consider his position" over the issue. "Instead of attacking the useless Green Party, Behan should have gone to his party colleague and Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea and demanded that this craziness be barred from Army lands. After all, O'Dea is in charge of what happens, is he not?" Brady said. Brady said he "was disgusted at the veil of secrecy drawn around the goofy explosion plans. Lies were told right up until the end with elected representatives and the media being misled. Even while people were still meeting with South Dublin County Council, officials were working behind their backs to dispose of the gas in secret. I am glad they called in a new set of experts from the US. They actually knew how to get rid of the lethal gas safely. The last 'experts,' who were called in from the UK, sounded more like drinking buddies wondering 'what would happen if we blew this up?'" Brady said. "The final question is who will pay for this? South Dublin County Council says Rentokil will but I doubt if they will pay for all the cockups and mismanagement. The Army, Guards and Fire Service were still working on the ground in Kilbride when the disposal announcement was made. A lot of man hours were wasted on this stupid exercise. If Sheehy or Quinlivan were in the private sector and ran projects like that, they would be out on their ears and would have a very hard time finding such senior positions again," Brady concluded.