Council backs EPA over Roadstone waste

Mary Dundon, Political Reporter

Roadstone has estimated that more than 50,000 tonnes of waste was dumped illegally on its 600- acre site near Blessington without its knowledge or consent.

The majority of the members who attended the council meeting were sceptical about CRH's 25-page submission outlining how it could re-bury the illegal waste satisfactorily, Wicklow County Council chairman councillor Andrew Doyle said.

"We would be sceptical about Roadstone's ability to achieve a safe re-burial of the waste on site even with a lined landfill," Mr Doyle added.

The EPA inspector's report on the proposed re-burial of illegal waste on the Roadstone site gave a comprehensive analysis of why this should not be done, Mr Doyle said.

Wicklow County Council now supports the EPA's view that this illegal waste must be disposed of in another site, Mr Doyle added.

Removing the waste would cost the company millions of euro.

The ultimate decision rests with the EPA and this will not be made until December after the agency has studied all submissions on its draft decision.

But EPA director Dr Mary Kelly has told an Oireachtas Committee that there may be up to three times that tonnage of waste on the site which is on a regional aquifer.

The EPA made a draft decision in July not to allow Roadstone to re-bury the illegal waste in a proposed lined landfill at the same site because this could not be done satisfactorily.

However, the EPA gave all parties until August 8 to make submissions on its draft decision. And Roadstone made a comprehensive 25-page response outlining how it could re-bury the illegal waste in a proposed lined landfill site in the same location.

A Roadstone spokesman could not be reached for comment at the time of going to press.