RESIDENTS of Kill, Co Kildare, will consider an appeal to the European Court of Justice to prevent the siting of the State's largest dump near their village.
This follows yesterday's Highcourt ruling which refused their to overturn a 1992 by An Bord Pleanala to planning permission to County Council to dump refuse from the city and county in the 150 acre site.
Mr Pat McNamara, chairman of the Kill Residents' Group, said they will be studying the ruling by Mr Justice Barr before their next appearance in the High Court on Thursday. This will decide whether there are grounds for an appeal to the Supreme Court. If they exhaust the legal recourse in Ireland, Mr McNamara said they will have to consider an appeal to the European Court.
Mr Justice Barr put off a decision on costs until Thursday. This was a serious matter for the residents, Mr McNamara said. "We have done some fund raising through raffles and local donations" but he agreed this was inadequate to fund a protracted action. "We hadn't expected to lose."
"We are bitterly disappointed and devastated," said another Kill resident, Ms Rosario Walsh, who attended the High Court hearing. The judge had ruled on legal points, she added. The merits of the proposed dump were not an issue in law, she said.
Mr Peter Sweetman of the Waste Action Group, a campaign against the Kill dump, said Mr Justice Barr had delivered a technical judgment which did not address the problem of disposing of Dublin's waste.
Mr Alan Dukes, Fine Gael TD for Kildare, said the High Court decision was very disappointing. "The proposed dump is up on a hill. I cannot think of a worse place for a dump."
The Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Emmet Stagg, said he would support the Anti Dump Action Group in whatever way he could in its future actions.
Progressive Democrats Senator John Dardis of Kildare said the High Court ruling was a crushing blow to the community in Kill and for the people of Co Kildare.
"Increasingly, Kildare is being, asked to bear the environmental, costs of Dublin's development needs" he added.
Mr Gerry Boland, the Green Party's spokesman on the environment described the Kill decision as a backward step because it, would allow local authorities to dump in Kill and to put off the decisions that needed to be taken to reduce "Ireland's waste mountain".