We’ll do whatever it takes to stop superdump, say angry residents

RESIDENTS in a small Galway village are preparing to fight a superdump they fear will attract rats and flocks of seagulls.

New Inn, 12km from Loughrea, was announced last week as the location for the county’s new 50-acre landfill site. It is expected to take up to 1.5 million tonnes of waste from Galway county over a 15-20 year period.

The New Inn Anti-Dump Committee has campaigned against the landfill since the village was short-listed, along with Newbridge and Kilrickle, as a potential location five years ago.

Spokesman Vincent Costello said: “Nobody wants this dump. We will do whatever it takes to stop it.”

He said locals had bad memories of a previous dump in the area which opened in 1971 as a temporary six-month facility. It did not close until 1989, despite persistent complaints about the expanding rat population.

The new superdump will replace the current landfill site in Ballinasloe, which is due to close in 2005.

The location was selected by RPS-MC O’Sullivan, the consultants behind the Connacht waste management strategy. Although the firm was unavailable for comment yesterday, it has said the New Inn site was chosen because it would cause least disruption to the local community, and increased recycling will cut the tonnage of waste going to the site.

New Inn is now facing the prospect of a second dump after Galway County Council granted permission for a private landfill three miles away.

Two local anti-dump groups have appealed the decision to An Bord Pleanála.

The residents of New Inn must now wait around 18 months for an Environmental Impact Statement to be completed before a final decision is made by An Bord Pleanála.

The New Inn anti-dump committee has pledged to take their case to the European Commission if necessary.