Allegation against council withdrawn

Wicklow County council yesterday played a video of an RTÉ news broadcast of last March as part of a presentation to councillors on illegal dumping in the county. The bulletin was an interview with quarry-owner Mr John O'Reilly, who has since retracted certain allegations made against the council during the broadcast.

The council also distributed transcripts of a Sunday newspaper report which, according to the county manager, Mr Eddie Sheehy, contained inaccuracies about the council's alleged use of the quarry at Whitestown, near Baltinglass, in west Wicklow.

It is thought that as much as 300,000 tonnes of waste, including hospital waste, may be buried in the original dump discovered late last year at Whitestown, while the full extent of hospital and other waste at a second dump on the site is as yet unknown.

Following the discovery of the waste, Mr O'Reilly alleged that Wicklow County Council had used his dump for council waste for about a decade and he sent the council a bill for more than €1 million. However, Mr Sheehy told the councillors yesterday that Mr O'Reilly had since withdrawn his allegation and had apologised to the council. Mr Sheehy said that Mr O'Reilly claimed he had been badly advised by a third party.

The council decided to support Mr Sheehy in passing the information to the Criminal Assets Bureau and the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, both of which have taken an interest in the operation of illegal dumps in the county.

Mr Sheehy indicated that the council would invite the third party referred to by Mr O'Reilly to talks and would advise this party to consider having a solicitor present. The council would also be considering the approaches of certain sectors of the media.

The Fianna Fáil TD-elect for Wicklow, Mr Dick Roche, said that the latest developments would serve to deflect attention from the investigation.

"I don't think the person or persons who are behind this third party can realise the great disservice they have done in deflecting the attention from the serious environmental hazards concerned," he said.