Committee seeks new powers on witnesses

The Oireachtas Committee on the Environment is to seek new powers to compel witnesses to testify at its hearings.

The decision which involves initiating a debate in the Dáil was taken yesterday after Roadstone refused to attend a committee hearing in relation to illegal dumps on its 600-acre site in Wicklow.

Roadstone has consistently denied that it knew of the existence of illegally-dumped waste on its land and told the committee this week that attendance before it could prejudice its application for a waste-management licence which it needs to clean up the waste.

But members of the committee expressed "outrage" at the decision and decided unanimously to seek the aid of the Dáil to expand its powers and allow it to compel Roadstone personnel to attend.

Labour environment spokes- man Eamon Gilmore told the members that if a 100,000 tonnes of waste were deposited on Roadstone land "a lorry load would have had to arrive at least once every two hours for four to five years before they were caught, and nobody saw it".

Mr Gilmore said the committee was now being told by Roadstone that it could not answer questions because of an EPA licence application, "next it could be a prosecution, and then something else".

Independent Senator Shane Ross said Roadstone was "a company that has bullied its way through the Irish corporate and political world for a very long time".

The company was, Mr Ross said, "deeply culpable and [was] avoiding accountability".

Arthur Morgan of Sinn Féin said the tactics being used were "unacceptable" and could be used by other groups to avoid scrutiny in the future.

Committee chairman Seán Haughey said the clerk of the committee would put the process en-train.

The environment committee also decided to visit the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant next week, to inspect the safety and anti-terrorism measures at the facility.