Environment committee - Watchdog lacks teeth to haul in witnesses

THERE are compelling reasons for granting powers to the Oireachtas Committee on the Environment to urge witnesses to attend its hearings.

Metaphorically speaking, since it lacks such powers, companies and individuals can thumb their noses at this important watchdog body which represents the public interest.

A classic example was seen this week when Roadstone, one of Ireland’s biggest companies, refused to attend a committee hearing in relation to illegal dumps on its 600-acre site in Co Wicklow. In the event, it was accused of avoiding accountability.

While the firm insists it was totally unaware illegal dumping of waste was going on, it owes it to the public to explain how such flagrant breaches of the law could persist for so long without being detected.

Putting it succinctly, Labour spokesman Eamon Gilmore estimated that to dump 100,000 tonnes of waste on Roadstone land “a lorry load would have to arrive at least once every two hours for four to five years ... and nobody saw it”.