Limerick landfill extension opposed

Limerick County Council is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a significant extension to the county's landfill in west Limerick.

The council says that it hopes the extension will provide additional capacity for two million tonnes of refuse and cater for Limerick's waste needs for the next 20 years.

It is keen to provide the landfill soon, as it anticipates there will be no further landfill capacity after May 2005.

It sometimes takes three years for landfills to become operational after a licence application has been made to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The council is to lodge its application with the EPA later this year.

The extension plan must also receive permission from An Bord Pleanála.

The landfill at Gortadroma, 12 kilometres north of Newcastlewest and nine kilometres south of Foynes, has been in place since 1990 and is the landfill for both Limerick city and county, having a licence to accept an annual 130,000 tonnes of waste.

However, the principal of Kilcolman National School, Ms Mary Liston, said: "The implications for the school will be very serious if the extension is given the go-ahead."

Ms Liston said that in 1994, the number at the school had been 89, but last year this dropped to 40.

"The drop in numbers comes from the part of our catchment area where the landfill is based. No one is building new houses there, and sons and daughters of land-owners are not building there, but moving elsewhere.

"The situation will worsen if the landfill extension goes ahead."

She said the proposal to extend the 35-hectare landfill "is a dreadful imposition on the people in the area.

"We acknowledge that landfills are needed, but the Gortadroma landfill has been operating since 1990, and it is time for another community to share the burden."

The school would be making a submission to the EPA and An Bord Pleanála as to why the extension should not go ahead, she said.

Mr Tim Mullane of the Gortadroma Anti-Landfill Group said it would strongly oppose the council's application.

Limerick County Council had "gone for the easy option by extending Gortadroma, which will in effect kill off the community here.

"The extension brings the landfill to within 200 metres of eight or nine houses. We're entitled to the enjoyment of our homes, but the council is not allowing us that," he added.