Quarrying company Roadstone is considering providing a legal covenant to ensure that the site of a dump on its lands in Blessington, Co Wicklow, can never be used as a commercial dump.
Last month, the company applied for a licence from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create a one-off landfill cell on its land near the town. Up to 110,000 tonnes of illegal waste from various parts of its 600-acre holding will be transferred to it as part of a remediation plan for the site agreed to by Wicklow County Council.
In an attempt to allay community fears about the future site, the company, a subsidiary of multinational company CRH, has indicated it would consider a legal covenant with the community, which would effectively mean that the site could never be used as a commercial dump even if it was sold on.
One of the concerns has been that a landfill cell could pave the way for a future commercial dump.
Yesterday, local activists said a covenant would not alleviate concerns about the company's proposals as the remediation plans provided for the creation of a landfill on an aquifer, a body of underground water, which is supplying drinking water to Blessington.
Locals are preparing a detailed submission to the EPA outlining their concerns about the plans and their total opposition to any landfill on the site.
In the application submitted to the EPA, Roadstone proposes to excavate and sort the material from three sites on its 600-acre holding.
One of the sites is just yards away from a new housing and apartment development at Deerpark.
The waste would be sorted, with recyclable material and hazardous material removed.
The remainder would then be brought to one location, where it would be landfilled in lined cells to prevent against leachate. The entire cost has been put at €10 million.
The landfill would be lined with an additional synthetic waterproof clay liner to prevent against the aquifer being contaminated.
Yesterday, Mr Frank Corcoran, chairman of An Taisce and a resident of Blessington, said a covenant would not address the concerns of locals.
"They will still be putting a dump on an aquifer," he said.
"Back eight years ago, the company promised publicly it would never be applying for a dump licence on the site; now they are."
He said the site of an aquifer should never be chosen for a landfill, and locals "did not trust" Roadstone to ensure that there would be no contamination of water.
"We're not prepared to take a chance they will protect it from the dump."
He said there were alternatives to landfilling the waste on the site, including the removal of it all to a licensed waste facility, but the company had decided against this route as it was too expensive.
"They made a billion euros profit out of €12 billion sales last year. Of course they could afford it."
Illegal dumping took place on the site throughout the 1990s right up to 2001.
Two people have now been charged in relation to the illegal activity, although Roadstone is not expected to be prosecuted.
The company has always denied knowledge of illegal activity, although prominent politicians, including the Minister for the Environment, Mr Roche, have questioned how it was never noticed.