Council plays down claims of big illegal dump

Wicklow County Council has played down the significance of what its director of environmental services, Mr Michael Nicholson, described on Monday as possibly the "biggest illegal dump yet". The council has promised it will continue its on-going investigations into illegal dumping.

The council has, however, clashed with the president of An Taisce, Mr Frank Corcoran, who has complained to the EU Commission as a result of the handling of previously discovered illegal dumps.

The latest site to cause controversy is near the village of Blessington, on the Wicklow and Kildare border. Its potential was revealed to councillors on Monday as Mr Nicholson delivered a report on the on-going investigations.

Mr Nicholson told councillors that, according to information before the council, the dump may be the biggest illegal dump so far discovered. Mr Nicholson told Deputy Billy Timmins (FG) the council was beginning an investigation and while it was reluctant to disclose the location of the site publicly, officials were willing to speak to councillors privately.

A statement yesterday made reference to a site at Dillonsdown, Blessington, as a possible location of large amounts of illegally dumped waste. The reference to Dillonsdown in connection with Mr Nicholson's comments surprised some local people who had suspected a different site which was not on the council's original list of suspect sites.

Cllr Tommy Cullen (Labour) described suggestions that the council may be about to discover the largest dump yet as "the motherload we always knew was there" while Mr Corcoran said it was "always known, because of the large number of lorries seen in the Blessington area, that there was a large-scale dump" in the locality.

Mr Corcoran expressed fears for the quality of water delivered to new housing estates in the village, which is sourced from local wells. He also expressed concern about the possibility of environmental damage to the nearby Poulaphouca Reservoir which supplies drinking water to the Dublin area.

However yesterday morning, Mr Tom Murphy, the council's director of corporate services, appeared to play down the scale of the new dump pointing out that it would be "incorrect" to say the council has discovered another large-scale dump. Mr Murphy indicated the council was merely acting in response to allegations and "rumour".

Over the past few months the council has secured prosecutions against a number of people including a landowner and a waste disposal company in relation to the illegal dumping site at Coolnamadra. It has also secured conviction and jail sentence against another waste contractor. Progress in prosecuting a further individual in relation to the largest recorded find so far, that of up to 300,000 tonnes of contaminated waste at Whitestown, is said to be good.

However, Mr Corcoran told The Irish Times that the EU Waste Directive requires all illegally dumped material to be removed, adding "that has not happened in Wicklow. Ireland has argued that the Waste Management Act 1996 allows it to leave waste in situ until there is contamination, but that is a wrong interpretation of the directive, it should be removed first."

A spokesman for the European Commission office in Dublin confirmed that a complaint had been received from Mr Corcoran and others in relation to illegal dumping activity in Wicklow which had been taken in the general context of the failure of Ireland to transpose the directive into Irish law.

The council released a statement yesterday evening which itemised progress on investigations into alleged illegal dumps at Coolnamadra; Whitestown (O'Reilly); Castleruddery (Stephenson's) and Dillonsdown.

The council said: "During the council's recent ongoing investigations into illegal dumping in West Wicklow, allegations have been made that despite the council's best efforts it has not as yet discovered the alleged largest illegal landfill site in the county.

"It has been suggested by some sources that such an illegal landfill site is located in Dillonsdown. As part of the council's ongoing search programme for illegal landfill sites, some preliminary investigations have taken place on sites at Dillonsdown and a full investigation will be carried out in the coming weeks. It must be stressed that the council has no evidence to support the allegations made."