Council threatens to cancel refuse service

Wicklow County Council has threatened to cancel all commercial refuse collections from July. The move comes in advance of a special council meeting on the creation of a "superdump" at Ballynagran, near Rathnew.

In the course of a four-year controversy, council members have twice voted to instruct the county manager not to proceed with the planned 300-acre dump. However, the manager held that the creation of the dump was an issue for him alone, until the High Court ruled against him earlier this year, in a case taken by members of the Ballynagran Action Group.

Now the manager, Mr Blaise Treacy, has warned of a waste-management crisis in the county. A special meeting is to be held later this month at which the waste crisis and a motion authorising the Ballynagran dump will be debated.

Should the councillors not authorise him to proceed with the Ballynagran proposal, Mr Treacy has indicated that he may appeal the High Court decision to the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile the county engineer, Mr Michael Looby, has told council members that space in the existing Ballymurtagh Dump is about to run out. He warned that from Monday, July 13th, no commercial refuse will be collected in the county.

July 13th is the day after the Tour de France cycle race goes through the county, but before a number of celebrations to commemorate the anniversary of 1798; the Irish Open Golf championship; the visit of the Round Ireland Yacht Race; and a number of other events. Local businesses expect these events to bring the most successful tourist season for the county.

Members of the county council have accused the county manager of a "crude attempt to brow-beat them into reversing their position on Ballynagran".

A Wicklow Fianna Fail TD, Mr Dick Roche, described the council executive's action as ill-advised and dangerous and maintained there "are still serious question-marks over the manner in which Wicklow County Council approached the original decision in this case".

Mr Roche said the Environmental Impact Statement for the dump contained disputable statements and assumptions.

He said he still had serious questions about the financing of the project (in which the council has already invested almost £1 million), the volumes of refuse predicted, and the effect of the proposed dump on agriculture in the area. He now felt a major problem was emerging in the council's handling of the issue, he added.

Quoting from the County Management Act, 1940, Section 32 (2), Mr Roche argued that the county manager had no authority to appeal to the Supreme Court without consulting the elected members and seeking their views beforehand.

"Indeed, in the High Court the council's legal representative asked for, and was granted, an adjournment of two weeks in order that the manager could consult the council on the issue of an appeal," he said. "The adjournment was granted. Yet on this occasion the councillors were not asked for their views on an appeal."

Calling on the elected members to "intervene before this goes any further", Mr Roche warned that "the course of action on which the council is being launched is fraught with difficulties and could well blow up in its face."