Bad smells main public complaint to environment agency

BAD smells from factories and dumps are the primary cause of complaints made by members of the public to the Environmental Protection Agency’s enforcement office (OEE).

The first report of the office, set up in late 2003 in response to a spate of illegal dumping scandals in Co Wicklow, showed there were 1,123 complaints from the public last year, and 1,077 in 2004.

While illegal dumping was originally the main problem, the concern currently raised most frequently is of odours from legal and licensed landfill sites, factories, timber plants and intensive agriculture.