A council environment engineer told a court yesterday he felt so intimidated during a visit to inspect a waste management company that he asked to be accompanied by gardaí for any subsequent inspections of the firm.
Brian Quinn, an engineer formerly working in the environment section of North Tipperary County Council, told a special sitting of Birr District Court that Peter Ogg, the director of Shannon Vermicomposting Ltd, of Coolross, Rathcabbin, Co Tipperary, was verbally aggressive towards him and another colleague when they visited the site to carry out an inspection on March 11th last year.
An argument developed when his colleague, John Gaffney, a planning official in the council, raised an issue about the height of a retaining wall on the site.
"We were asked to get off the site - in my opinion in a verbally aggressive and intimidating manner." Mr Quinn said he and Mr Gaffney were followed by Mr Ogg as they went to leave the site, and from his recall some swear words were used.
In reply to Mr Ogg's counsel, Nap Keeling, Mr Quinn agreed he did not ask to see the company's records. "The intimidation tactics used by Mr Ogg did not let me fulfil my objectives."
Mr Quinn said he was not aware another council official had subsequently visited the company's site on 30 occasions without any bother.
Mr Keeling said Mr Ogg had asked the two officials to leave the site because he felt he was accused of being a liar.
The council's solicitor, Elizabeth McGrath, said the two officials were on the site for only 20 minutes. The charge against Mr Ogg was for obstructing or impeding an official.
A separate case was also heard yesterday relating to 12 alleged breaches by Shannon Vermicomposting Ltd, of the conditions attached to the waste permit granted to the firm in August 2002. The council's barrister, Paul Coffey SC, said the charges against the company related to accepting volumes of waste on the site in excess of the levels permitted under the permit between January 2003 and June 2004.
Judge Michael Reilly adjourned his decision on both cases to April 8th in order to inspect written submissions in defence of the firm, which Mr Keeling undertook to submit within 14 days. Shannon Vermicomposting uses worms to convert waste into organic compost.