Illegal dumping report - Enforcement at local level badly needed

IRELAND’S image as a Banana Republic will sadly be endorsed by today’s release of a ‘dossier of shame’ outlining this country’s abysmal record of waste disposal.

After a year-long probe, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the State watchdog, has pinpointed 25 sites around the country where illegal dumping has been going on.

Putting its money where its mouth is, the EPA, which has come in for criticism in recent times, has named and shamed 15 bogus waste handling operations.

The worrying aspect of the EPA discovery is that vast quantities of waste were dumped under the eyes of local authorities, which should have been more alert to what was going on.

These findings underline the urgency of cracking down on criminals who despoil Ireland’s fragile environment out of naked greed.