Gardaí to Investigate Wicklow's Illegal Dumping

A full-scale criminal inquiry has begun into illegal dumping in the Garden County and elsewhere in Ireland. Ordered by the Garda Commissioner, Pat Byrne, the move has been welcomed by the Minister of the Environment, Noel Dempsey, who suggested the measure. "Ultimately, I am hopeful that those responsible for serious and grossly irresponsible dumping of waste will be successfully prosecuted on indictment, and incur commensurate penalties," said the minister.

A total of fifteen officers from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation will be assigned to the investigation and will be based in Naas in county Kildare, close to the West Wicklow sites of much of the illegal dumping exposed in recent weeks. The Criminal Assets Bureau will also be involved. The maximum penalties for illegal dumping are fines of €12.5 million and/or 10 years' imprisonment. The investigation will initially focus on county Wicklow but will later expand to cover the whole country.

The development was welcomed by local politicians. Jimmy O'Shaugnessey, Chairman of Wicklow County Council gave strong support to the investigation saying, "We have a beautiful county and I don't think it should be destroyed by anybody". Fianna Fail TD Dick Roche said that he was thrilled at the move. "There is a moral responsibility on everybody to get to the bottom of this issue", he said.

Green Party county councillor Deirdre de Burca also welcomed the announcement but questioned why it had taken so long to come. "We have a waste crisis not just in Wicklow, but in the whole country, and the reason is that politicians have done nothing".

It was reported last week that Ireland is being investigated for 17 cases of infringement of the EU's waste directive.