Blood bags found in illegal Dublin dump

Blood bags, hypodermic syringes, urinals and bed-pans are among the medical waste found in the largest unauthorised dump found in Dublin so far, according to a report seen by The Irish Times.

The report lists in detail the contents of the dump at Belcamp in north Dublin, which also includes oil waste, aeronautical parts and other engine parts.

It estimates that the dump contains 40,000 tonnes of contaminated waste.

The illegally-dumped material covers an area 250 metres by 40 metres, and to a depth of five metres. The dump is adjacent to a local GAA pitch.

Investigators assessed the likelihood of coming across radioactive hospital waste as "probable", but none was found in the areas excavated.

The report was prepared by specialist consultants Ecosafe Systems for Dublin Corporation last month. It follows the discovery in June of the waste during construction work for Dublin Corporation on the North Fringe sewer project.

The IDA, which owns the land, has since commissioned the consultants to investigate its entire 120-acre holding for further evidence of hazardous waste.

This is expected to take three months.

A spokesman said the authority would do "whatever has to be done" to clean up the land. It would seeking the imposition of maximum penalties on those responsible for the pollution.

The report shows that a second pocket of contaminated land was discovered on the site last month, five months after the original find.

It also contains blood samples and other bottles similar to those in the first site. The vials have broken and blood has seeped into the soil. Many of the vials are crushed, and the splintered glass is sharp and dangerous.

According to the report, there is a "general awareness" of landfilling in the area and local residents had expressed concern that the materials being dumped were dangerous.

Residents also indicated that the local authorities tried to stop dumping on the site on a number of occasions.

The land was owned by two local families in the early 1980s, when dumping started.

The families were approached by an "independent waste contractor" to use a depression on the site as a landfill. Dumping continued for two years, and much of the material was later covered by topsoil.

"It is not known if local authority permission was ever sought for this activity," the report says.