There will be no refuse collection service in Galway today as the city's waste crisis is set to intensify. Business leaders have warned that rubbish will pile up over the weekend as there is no landfill site available for commercial waste from the city.
Galway Corporation refuse collectors yesterday refused to pass a picket at the Poolboy site, near Ballinasloe, when a limit set on commercial waste from the city was reached.
The picket was staged by private waste contractors in response to the refusal of Ballinasloe Urban Council to accept commercial refuse from the city. The ban on city waste was announced last November.
About 15 members of the Galway Waste Contractors' Association picketed the Poolboy site.
Representatives of the city's business community have called on the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, and the local authorities to resolve the impasse. They are concerned that restaurants, pubs, hotels and shops in the city will have to start piling up rubbish on the streets over the weekend, to avoid serious health and hygiene problems on their premises.
"It is an utterly serious situation and we believe there are jobs at risk," said Ms Maeve Joyce, of the Galway Chamber of Commerce and Industry. "If businesses such as hotels and restaurants are not able to get rid of their waste, then how are they to keep trading?"
She said no commercial waste was left out yesterday because businesses in the city were aware that private operators would not be in a position to dispose of it. But she called for the standoff to be resolved and for a Connacht waste management plan to be adopted as a matter of urgency.
The Galway city manager, Mr John Tierney, said the corporation was compelled to suspend domestic refuse collections from this morning. He expected to issue a further statement on the dispute today.
A spokesman for the Department of the Environment said the Minister was considering all available options and would make a statement "at the appropriate time".
Galway Corporation is set to debate the waste issue next Monday night, while Ballinasloe UDC is to hold a special meeting to discuss the crisis on Tuesday.
The Environmental Protection Agency meanwhile has said an Irish Times article yesterday incorrectly stated that it had guidelines requiring a reduction in the total annual tonnage at the landfill site at Poolboy from 75,000 tonnes this year to 50,000 tonnes next year.
The EPA said it had issued no guidelines. It said it licensed the Poolboy facility to accept a total of 375,000 tonnes from the date of the application, made in February 1998. Under the conditions of this licence, up to 12,000 tonnes per annum might be accepted provided the total of 375,000 tonnes was not exceeded.