Scrap metal company sues county council over waste classification

A scrap metal company has sued Kilkenny County Council in the High Court over allegedly costing it hundreds of thousands of euro by wrongly classifying their product as hazardous waste.

Michael McDowell SC, for Midland Scrap Metal, said the claim for damages arose out of a 2005 dispute between the company and the council over the export of sheer scrap metal waste to Spain.

The operators of Midland Scrap Metal, Con and Anthony Ward, had been engaged in the scrap metal business in Ireland for upwards of 40 years.

In 2005, Midland ceased being a simple merchant and converted itself to a direct exporter of scrap metal. The company entered into an agreement with the Stafford company for use of their port facilities at New Ross, and between April 13 and October 10, 2005, it shipped 9,525 metric tons of scrap metal to Spain.

On October 8, 2005, the Environmental Protection Agency inspected the New Ross port facilities and determined they would reclassify the company’s accumulated scrap metal from green waste to red waste, he said. This effectively meant the scrap metal was reclassified as a dangerous consignment with the immediate commercial effect of rendering it “unsaleable”.

The company was claiming general and special damages totalling €788,924 on foot of a 2007 Supreme Court ruling in another case, counsel said.

In a preliminary application, Patrick Butler SC, for the council, has asked the court to rule whether public bodies have a statutory immunity from such damages claims in the absence of a high degree of malice or recklessness on their part being proven.

Mr Justice William Hanna will continue hearing the application today.