Plans by Waterford's local authorities to locate a new "super dump" in the west of the county have split Waterford County Council and caused deep anger in the communities concerned.
Initial testing began last week on three potential sites and officials hope to recommend one to meetings of the county council and Waterford Corporation next month.
If one of the sites is found to be suitable it will end a search of more than two years for a landfill to replace dumps at Tramore, Dungarvan, and Kilbarry in Waterford city.
Last year vigorous campaigns were fought against plans to build the dump at one of two locations in the east of the county, before both sites were deemed to be unsuitable on technical grounds, including insufficient soil depth.
Residents in the areas now under consideration - Garrynagree and Moyne, near Dungarvan; and Knockanore, close to the Cork border - claim it makes no sense to transport waste across the county each month from Waterford city, where most of the refuse is produced.
They also allege their areas have been selected because they are sparsely populated and the authorities expected little resistance. This is denied by council officials who say a site for the 60-acre landfill will be chosen on the basis of objective criteria and in line with Environmental Protection Agency guidelines.
Garrynagree and Moyne residents have formed the Lickey Concern Group, named after a local river, to highlight environmental and economic concerns. They claim the Old Parish Gaeltacht, which borders the sites under consideration, would see a reversal of its recent revival if either was selected.
"The population of Old Parish was once 2,000 and is now 300. When I went to school here there were 69 in the school; that was down to 29 five years ago but it's up to 42 now. It will be the death of this area if this goes ahead," said Mr Tomas Mahony, vice-chairman of the group.
The group claims that the sight of a landfill designed to take at least 60,000 tonnes of refuse a year in a rural and tranquil area would change the character of the Gaeltacht. "It is predicted that 100 lorries per day will carry rubbish from Waterford to the site along the N25 - a major tourist artery. There can surely be no easier way to deter tourists to an area than to build a huge rubbish dump in it."
Mr Mahony said many locals had not been connected to a main water supply and drew from private wells. He said the landfill could pollute local ground water.
The group says that by looking for a site in west Waterford the two authorities had breached the EU's proximity principle, which requires that waste be disposed of as close as possible to where it is produced.
Even consultants acting for the authorities, John B. Barry and Partners, pointed out in May 1998 that 80 per cent of Waterford's population resided in the east of the county, including Dungarvan. On that basis, the entire area west of Dungarvan was excluded from the original selection process.
Council officials, however, say they tried but failed to find a site in the east of the county. That argument held little sway on Monday, when about 150 people gathered outside the monthly meeting of Waterford County Council to oppose the authorities' plans.
Inside, the public gallery was packed for the debate on a motion by three Fianna Fail councillors - Mr Ollie Wilkinson, Mr James Tobin and Mr Tom Cronin - which called on the county council to cease its search for a site in west Waterford.
In a heated discussion, councillors from the east of the county threatened to bring similar motions ruling out east Waterford from the search as well.
Mr Tobin, who is based in Tallow, near the Cork border, said the consultants "should have stuck by their own guidelines". Knockanore was 60 miles from Waterford city, which produced 75 per cent of the county's rubbish, and was dependent on agriculture and tourism.
Fine Gael Cllr William McDonnell, also from west Waterford, articulated a major fear of the residents, saying he had no doubt that the site chosen would also be used to take refuse from east Cork.
Labour's Mr Fiachra O Ceilleachair asked if refuse collection charges would rise by 400 per cent if the plan went ahead, due to the cost of transporting rubbish from Waterford city.
It was then the inevitable east-west divide on the council began to emerge. Fine Gael's Mr Paudie Coffey, from Portlaw, said councillors were contradicting themselves. They wanted the current dumps closed "but they're not prepared to look for a modern alternative". The bottom line was that a site had to be selected, he added. However, his party colleague, Mr John Deasy, from west Waterford, said the fact that the three sites selected for testing were all owned by Coillte, the State forestry board, was causing "a lot of suspicion". The three sites under consideration in Cork were also owned by Coillte, as was one in Limerick and one in Wicklow.
He said it was "stretching believability" to say the sites were selected on merit and not because they were Coillte sites. "I do not believe this process is being done on merit any more."
Labour's Mr Billy Kyne said the proximity principle meant it should be closer to the city than Dungarvan.
However, the county manager, Mr Donal Connolly, said the motion should not be before the council. The two authorities had adopted a joint waste management strategy in 1996 and the site selection process had been carried out on an objective basis in accordance with EPA guidelines.
The proximity principle was "just one of the criteria" and if it had been possible to find a site in east Waterford that would have been followed through. But the potential sites identified at Ross, Ballybrack and Stradbally had been found to be unsuitable and they had been forced to look west.
Initial tests had been conducted last week and these should be allowed to proceed. "The motion is divisive. Any site will be objected to by residents who will say `keep it out of my area'. We have to take the courageous decision."
Questioned on whether the decision was one for councillors or if the manager had the final say, Mr Connolly said it was his job to implement the policy as decided by the council. However, they could not change that policy "by a simple vote here today". The policy had already been decided after public consultation.
The landfills at Dungarvan and Tramore would have to be closed, he added. "At the same time we're giving the impression that we're going to continue a waste collection facility." Unless an alternative was found they would "shortly be in a position where we will not be able to continue that service".
"The site selected will be the best and most suitable in the county." The cost of transport was "infinitesimal" compared to the overall cost involved, so siting the landfill away from Waterford city did not "make a huge difference", he said. An incinerator or other form of waste disposal might be an option for Waterford in the future but a landfill was needed in the shorter term, he added. If the motion was to be put, he advised councillors to vote against it. He believed the motion would have no legal effect.
Fine Gael Cllr John Carey, from Passage East, said if the motion was passed he would bring a similar one to the next meeting regarding the east of the county. It should be withdrawn. Fianna Fail Cllr Pat Daly, from Kilmeaden, then proposed an amendment adding east Waterford to his party colleagues' motion. This would have excluded the entire county from the search for a landfill site.
After some confusion a further motion, by Fine Gael's Ms Nora Flynn, that the vote be postponed until the next meeting, was passed by a single vote.
"We're very disappointed," said the chairman of the Lickey Concern Group, Mr A.J. O'Donnell. "No doubt it will be presented as a fait accompli at the next meeting." The group has retained the services of a Dublin-based hydrologist, Mr David Ball, and is monitoring the site tests.
The group has a website: www.lickeyconcern.com
The Waterford Corporation website is at: www.waterfordcorp.ie
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