Residents' concerns over taillings pond... 'It's like living in the shadow of a volcano'

That is how Martin Heaney describes living and farming in close proximity to the tailings pond.

"There is a possibility that something could happen at any time. We have been given assurances that it is safe, but I'm sure people living in other countries where there have been dam bursts, were also given assurances.

READ: 300 tonnes of mine waste released in tailings pond pipeline breach

Martin, a dairy farmer, said he has a concern that toxic dust could blow off the top of the storage facility.

"We don't milk the cows that are kept beside the dam, they are replacement stock," he explains. Martin lives just one kilometre from the tailings pond and if the new extension goes ahead, it will be less than half a mile away.

Ann Brady lives in the shadow of the 20-metre high dam which towers over Simonstown Lane in Navan. She was active in Residents Against Tailings Extensions (RATE) who campaigned against a vertical extension to the pond back in 2009/10, as were her parents, Rita and Paddy.

"It is stressful living beside it, there is always the thought that anything should happen. We are aware that the mine has an emergency plan in place with the council, the gardai and the ambulance service, but the people of the town don't seem to know that.

"There are also problems with noise and dust when work is going on. When they built that extension, they planted lime trees to block off the view, but they have now grown so tall, they are blocking the sunlight from my patio," she said.