Second fire breaks out at fugitive waste collector’s illegal dump

High Court had ordered Jim Ferry to be jailed until he cleaned up Co Donegal site

A second fire has broken out on the site of an illegal dump near Letterkenny owned by the fugitive waste collector Jim Ferry.

Smoke emerged from the large shed on the land at Rossbrackan in the early hours of Friday morning.

The shed previously went on fire on July 29th, hours after Mr Justice Max Barrett told Ferry in the High Court in Dublin that he faced a lengthy jail sentence if he did not comply with an order made in April to clean up the site. An estimated 2,000 tonnes of waste was contained in and around the shed. Up to 36,000 tonnes of waste is buried at the four-hectare Rossbrackan site.

When tenders arrived to deal with the first fire at the shed, bales of concrete blocks impeded access to the site. The blaze was eventually extinguished.

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On August 22nd, Mr Justice Barrett ordered for Ferry to be arrested and jailed until he complied with the April order. Ferry left court before he was taken into custody, however, and remains a fugitive.

Late last month it emerged that Garda raids on properties in Co Donegal linked to Ferry have resulted in the seizure of cannabis plants, a balaclava, suspected stolen goods and about €80,000 in cash.

After the second fire broke out on Friday, residents in nearby Manorcunningham were urged to keep their windows shut, to stop smoke and toxic fumes from entering their homes. The fire was eventually brought under control.

Peter Murtagh

Peter Murtagh

Peter Murtagh is a contributor to The Irish Times