Some 500,000 tonnes of toxic waste dumped in an Irish harbor may be taped up with an environmental seal instead of being removed, an Irish newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The Irish Examiner quoted Irish Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney as saying that the huge accumulation of toxic waste may never be removed from Cork Harbor in the southwest of the country.

Threatened with massive fines by the European Commission, the Irish government allocated up to 40 million euros (around 52 million U.S. dollars) between now and 2014 to clean the site and make it safe.

However, Coveney said it could be too dangerous to dislodge the heaps of waste left by steel companies Irish Steel and Irish Ispat, and instead they may have to be made impermeable to prevent further contamination.

Irish Steel, and later Irish Ispat, operated Ireland's only steel plant in Cork Harbor for more than six decades, before closing in 2001.

Huge slag heaps, by-products of the steel making process, and waste from the plant's furnaces was left behind in an illegal dump covering 22 acres of land.

Three reports have already been completed on the toxic dump so far and the local country council has plans for conducting soil sampling on the site.

Coveney said the government will be doing all that is reasonable to ensure the site is safe and said the European Commission was happy with the development of the site so far.

It is hoped all site works will be completed by the end of 2013 or early in 2014.