Landowner withdraws claims against council

It has emerged that one of the Co Wicklow land owners currently under investigation over allowing illegal waste to be dumped on his land has withdrawn an allegation he made about the County Council.

The landowner had claimed the council had been responsible for dumping a substantial amount of waste on his site at Whitestown in the west of the county.

John O’Reilly met with council officials last week and withdrew his allegations along with a bill for over €1m which he had sent to the council.

He stated that during his meetings, a third party had coerced him into submitting the invoice to the council, suggested the figures he should use and dictated the script which he also used.

He also claimed that the unnamed third party had arranged for a television crew from RTE to call to his home and arranged a separate meeting with a newspaper reporter from the Sunday Business Post who subsequently published the allegations.

It is still unknown who the third party is.