Council to discuss waste permit claim

WICKLOW COUNTY Council is to hold a special meeting this evening to discuss allegations that a senior official ordered the destruction of a signed waste permit and its replacement on file with an unsigned version.

The waste permit, which related to lands at Ballybeg near Rathnew, had a commercial value of €400,000 to the landowner, Roy Byrne. Penalties for operating a waste facility without a permit include fines of up to €12.7 million and up to 10 years in jail.

A Local Government Audit Service (LGAS) investigator formed the view that the senior council official Michael Nicholson, then director of environmental services, ordered the destruction of the waste permit in January 2003, having signed it previously. Mr Nicholson is now director of housing services with the council.

Today's meeting was called by Labour Party members of the council. Labour member John Byrne told The Irish Timesat the weekend the members would push for a public inquiry. The allegations came to light last month after the draft LGAS report, which was released to independent councillor Tommy Cullen under the Freedom of Information Act, was the subject of articles in The Irish Times. The Department of Environment has said the final LGAS report is missing.

The draft report noted that at the time of the affair, Mr Byrne and councillors were repeatedly told by council officials including Mr Nicholson that no permit had been signed or issued. Mr Byrne, who had seen a copy of the original waste permit on the files of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), engaged solicitors who were given similar denials by the council. Mr Byrne complained to Green Party Senator, then Wicklow councillor Deirdre de Búrca and independent councillor Tommy Cullen, that he was having difficulty meeting council officials to discuss the issue. They referred the complaint to former Wicklow councillor and then minister for the environment, Dick Roche.

County manager Eddie Sheehy told councillors he agreed to meet Roy Byrne. It is understood at this meeting Mr Byrne was able to produce a copy of the original permit that he received from the EPA.

The council was forced to issue a new waste permit backdating it to the date of the original. The LGAS recorded Mr Sheehy’s evidence that he felt he was given inaccurate information on a few occasions by Mr Nicholson.

However, councillors complained they were not privy to details of the affair or the LGAS investigation until reports surfaced in The Irish Times. Some councillors expressed concern at the LGAS finding, that an "administrative error" led to the destruction of the permit. Councillors claimed this does not adequately explain the council's denials that the permit existed.