Illegal dump beside council offices

Wicklow County Council has discovered another illegal dump on Roadstone-owned lands in west Wicklow. The dump is within 300 yards of the council's offices in Blessington.

While the number of finds of illegally-dumped waste on Roadstone lands is now put at five, some of which are about one kilometre apart, a company spokesman said yesterday that as far as it could tell the five separate finds represented one dump.

The company repeated its assertion that whatever waste was found on its land was put there without its permission.

Wicklow County Council's spokesman said it had nothing to add to previous statements that unauthorised commercial and domestic waste had been found on Roadstone lands.

The council has previously acknowledged "road sweepings" may have been dumped on Roadstone lands by the council itself.

Council sources indicated yesterday that photographs of vehicles dumping significant waste on Roadstone lands on a number of occasions were being studied by officials.

Details of the extent of the latest dump have not been released either by Roadstone or by the council. An earthen mound was placed around the site yesterday, shielding the contents from photographers and public view. However, an indication of the size of the dump might be taken from two mechanical diggers which could be seen working on the dump over the past two days.

Yesterday, anti-dump campaigner and member of Wicklow Council, Cllr Tommy Cullen, said he was told at last Monday's council meeting of the Strategic Policy Committee that dumps had been found on Roadstone lands in the townlands of Dillonsdown and Deerpark. He said while there had been five separate finds of waste, he expected another two to be confirmed in the future.

According to Mr Cullen, the situation now required an independent investigation to be set up by the Minister for the Environment. Mr Cullen told The Irish Times he was concerned about legal difficulties which might arise in a forthcoming prosecution initiated by the council given its admission it dumped on Roadstone lands.

He called for any prosecution to be initiated by "either a special investigator appointed by the Minister or by a responsible body, such as the Environmental Protection Agency".

Minister of State Mr Dick Roche, who is a local TD, said, "if you or I said we knew nothing about waste being found dumped on our land we would be laughed at". He said heavy equipment must have been used to bury the waste, and questioned how this could happen "in yards of the council offices with nobody knowing about it".