Contractor fined for unauthorised 'recovery' of inert waste

A prominent Dublin waste contractor has been fined €10,000 at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for unauthorised "recovery" of inert waste at an illegal dump in Co. Wicklow in the late 1990's.

Anthony Dean (aged 56), owner of Dean Waste trading as A1 Waste, of Woodhaven, Milltown, Dublin 14, had pleaded guilty to undertaking the recovery of lorry loads of waste at the landfill number four section of the 47-acre site of John O'Reilly's land at Whitestown, Baltinglass without having been so authorised by licence between January 1 and May 1, 1998.

"Recovery" in relation to waste is defined under the Waste Management Act 1996 as activities carried on for or related to the purposes of reclaiming, recycling, or reusing waste. The maximum penalty for this offence is a €10m fine or 10 years' imprisonment or both.

Judge Desmond Hogan noted that Dean’s circumstances had became "straitened" in recent times and said he was imposing the €10,000 fine in the exceptional circumstances of the evidence in the case.

Mr Eanna Mulloy SC (with Mr Michael Bowman BL), prosecuting, outlined to the court that 10,000 tonnes of inert construction waste, in 500 lorry loads of 20 tonnes each, were placed at the site without authorisation by Dean’s company, who paid the landowner Ir£50 to Ir£60 per lorry load.

Mr Shane Murphy SC, defending Dean, submitted that this was a case of "licensing infelicity" due to an honest mistake at a time when the Waste Management Act was being gradually implemented and there was a risk of error in relation to licensing even by persons familiar with the legislation such as Wicklow County Council.

He said there was no risk of environmental pollution from the material Dean’s company placed at the site.

Mr Michael Cronin, Dean’s accountant, told Mr Murphy that Dean’s company had been significantly reliant on the construction industry for their business and income been heavily hit by the economic downturn.

Mr Cronin said Dean no longer drew a wage from the company and a third of the workforce had been laid off.

The Director of Public Prosecutions entered a nolle prosequi on all charges against his two former employees, Mr Laurence Creighton of Kill, Co Kildare and Mr Pat Fitzharris of The Rockery, Knocklyon, following Dean’s guilty plea to an amended charge on day three of the trial in February.

The three men had originally pleaded not guilty to disposing of lorry loads of waste without a licence and in a manner likely to cause environmental pollution by creating a risk to the water, atmosphere, land, soil, plants or animals at the Wicklow site.

A number of other people have been sentenced or are awaiting sentencing at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on more serious charges in relation to wide scale illegal dumping at the Whitestown site.

John O'Reilly, now of Roberstown, Naas, who owned the Whitestown site at the time, was fined €150,000 in July 2006 for allowing his land to be used for disposing of waste that could cause pollution on dates between November 2000 and December 2001.

Louis Moriarty, hotelier and owner of Swalcliff Ltd (trading as Dublin Waste), is awaiting finalisation of sentence after pleading guilty in February 2008 to disposing of waste in a manner likely to cause environmental pollution at Whitestown and at another Wicklow site at Coolnamadra, Donard on dates in 2001.

Neville Watson (aged 41), of Trim, Co Meath, a truck driver who worked for Moriarty’s company, Swalcliff trading as Dublin Waste, was jailed for six months in July 2006 after he pleaded guilty to disposing of waste without a licence at Whitestown between November 2000 and December 2001.