Dump owner 'unaware' of hospital waste

The operator of an unlicensed dump in west Wicklow has said he knew nothing of the existence of hospital waste on the land.

Mr John Reilly, who runs an unlicensed quarrying and dumping business at Whitestown, near Donard, told The Irish Times he was completely unaware of waste which was in a deep hole behind his house on the site.

Mr Reilly declined to name the contractor who delivered the waste. His business was closed yesterday as the forensic examination of the waste began.

Samples thought to have come from a hospital theatre were removed, as were what appeared to be patients' records. The material appears to be similar to that found on another site in west Wicklow, last month.

Although garda∅ prevented access to the site yesterday, sources at the scene described it as "the normal waste one would expect to find after a hospital operation including tissue, fluid swabs and paper clothing".

This week's find may run into several hundred thousand tonnes. Wicklow County Council said the initial stage of its investigation may take several days.

This is not the first time action has been taken to prevent illegal dumping at the site, according to Mr Liam Fitzpatrick, acting county secretary of the council.

Mr Fitzpatrick said enforcement proceedings were taken on illegal dumping at the site a number of years ago, "but it was thought to have ceased".

The council said that, contrary to local speculation, it has not interviewed any of its own staff members over involvement in the dumping of hospital waste.

The Irish Times has established, however, that the council has had discussions with a staff member over the involvement of a close family member with the dumping of non-medical waste. It is understood the discussions arose after the close family member of the employee was found on site with a landowner as builders' rubble was being illegally dumped.

The council has said little about either of the two recent finds of hospital waste. As yet it has not acknowledged the identity of either the owner of the lands involved in last month's incident or the hospitals from which the material came, or the waste disposal company which was involved.

The council said it was taking this stance to protect any legal action it may decide to take.

The names of the landowner, the hospitals and the waste disposal company have, however, already appeared in the media.

The council's stance has angered some of its members, particularly since the council initially said in a letter to members dated September 7th, 2001, that a Section 55 enforcement notice had been served on a landowner for illegal dumping.

Councillors later discovered this was not the case.

Labour Party TD for Wicklow Ms Liz McManus said: "The more the councillors hear about the situation the more it seems the officials took the view that we were not asking the right questions and decided to keep material aspects from us."

The Environmental Protection Agency said the job of establishing how the waste got to the site, and finding and prosecuting those involved, is now the responsibility of the council.