Slaney under threat from illegal Wicklow dump

The Irish Independent has reported that Wicklow County Council is battling against time to prevent 8,000 tons of toxic hospital waste from falling into a river in west Wicklow. The heavy rains of the last two weeks have resulted in of mountain of waste at Coolamadra in the Glen of Imaal slipping steadily towards the stream at the bottom of a valley. It is understood that the dump is on a high bank overlooking the stream which is a tributary of the river slaney that flows to meet the sea at Wexford town.

West Wicklow labour county councillor Tommy Cullen has criticised Wicklow County Council about how they have handled the Coolamadra illegal dump. "The council originally discovered the dump last August 3rd but did nothing for 3 months" said councillor Cullen. "They took no action and let more rubbish be dumped and since then they have taken no action." Councillor Cullen has claimed that illegal dumping is continuing substantially in the Garden county and that the County council is failing to deal with it. Cullen also questioned other aspects of the councils waste management. "Will the Gardai be investigating illegal dumping in the council's own tipheads?", he asked.

Meanwhile other Wicklow politicians have been responding to yesterday's revelations that the Killegar Dump near Enniskerry is contiminating local groundwater. Liz McManus has contacted Wicklow County Council in relation to local concerns about the dump. "I was recently contacted by members of the Enniskerry Environmental ActionGroup who expressed concerns to me about matters relating to the Killegar Dump", said Deputy Liz McManus.

Green Party county councillor deirdre DeBurca has called the privatisation of waste collection services "a disaster". "Despite strong opposition from the Green Party and the Labour Party, a majority of councillors voted to privatise the services" says Green Party councillor, Deirdre de Burca. "These councillors defended their decision on the basis that the private sector could provide much cheaper waste collection services to householders in the county".

Councillor de Burca also said that that one of her objectives if elected to the Dail is to ensure that doorstep recycling services become the norm, not just in County Wicklow but nationally.