Dumping loophole poses headache for many farmers
Limerick IFA has been asked to investigate the responsibility of Local Authorities for refuse dumping on farmland adjacent to public roads, which is creating particular difficulty for land owners close to Limerick City.
A local farmer said: “It is a crazy situation that a farmer must take the prosecution for dumping if the refuse is dumped on his land, and he must first establish who carried out the dumping.”
He said that 23 bags of rubbish had been dumped in his field and when he went to the Local Authority they informed him that because it was inside the gate it was the responsibility of the farmer to deal with.
If the rubbish had been dumped on the roadside, it was the responsibility of the Local Authority.
He added: “People have to realise that farmland is private property. Some people appear to forget that land is privately owned and they think that they can do what they like with farmland, whether it is entering the land or dumping rubbish”.
Michael O’Flynn, chairman, Limerick IFA, said that it was not acceptable that people should trespass on farms and dump rubbish wherever they choose.
If country people went to the cities and set up a picnic on the lawn of a suburban house, they would not be left there for very long, he suggested
“Yet some of these same people come out the country, have their picnic and leave the place in a mess after them and they think it is in order.
"Now we have people who feel that it is acceptable that they also dump their rubbish on farms,” he said.
