Yesteryears! Thirty men hospitalised after ammonia leak at plant in Tipperary

TAKE A LOOK BACK WITH THIS WEEK’S YESTERYEARS

An ammonia leak which rocked Clonmel Chilling Ltd., a meat processing plant in the town, in late September 1995 was being investigated by the Health and Safety Authority, wrote Aileen Mulhall, in our edition dated September 30 of that year.

The leak had resulted in the hospitalisation of 30 people from the plant being hospitalised, but thankfully, all the men suffering from ammonia inhalation were all released after six hours observation.

A farmer and a vet were among those affected.

The 28 factory workers told The Nationalist of the speed at which the ammonia spread and claimed that the company wanted them to go back to work afterwards.

A spokesman for the company said that the leak lasted only 10 seconds and was switched off by an engineer who spotted the problem.

In another story that week, an irate chairman of Cashel UDC, Sean McCarthy, condemned the South Eastern Regional Tourism Organisation (SERTO) for closing the tourist office in Cashel.

Cllr McCarthy claimed that tourists were now roaming around the streets of the town “like lost sheep” since the closure.

In a hard-hitting statement the UDC chairman called for SERTO to be disbanded, and described the organisation as “incapable and incompetent”, wrote Eamon Lacey.

Sport also made the front page that week with a photo of Liam Cronin, captain of Moyle Rovers, accepting the O’Dwyer Cup from Football Board Chairman, Sean Mockler, after the Powerstown/Lisronagh club had won its first ever county senior title, defeating local rivals Clonmel Commercials in the final in Cahir.

There was also a front page piece about a group of 22 retired coal miners from Ballingarry seeking compensation from the Government.

The men claimed they were suffering from ill health and ‘miners lung’ after a lifetime working in the Ballingarry collieries.

A deputation of three miners were to meet the Welfare Minister, Prionsias De Rossa, to demand tax exemptions and extra concessions.