A LOCAL authority has been illegally dumping waste in "an area of outstanding natural beauty", the High Court has been told.
Mr Ercus Stewart SC told Mr Justice McCracken that South Dublin County Council had reopened the old rubbish tip at Friarstown, Bohernabreena, in breach of EU and Irish law.
His client, Mrs Rosaleen Fitzgerald, of Glenside House, Glassamucky, Glenasmole, and secretary of Bohernabreena Residents' Association, was granted leave to challenge by judicial review the council's decision to reopen the dump.
Mrs Fitzgerald said that before the 1993 closure of the Friarstown landfill site local residents had been beset by vermin, litter, noise, stench, fires, smoke, dust and dirt. She said that plastic litter blowing into adjoining fields had caused the deaths of cattle.
Mr Stewart said it had been the clear understanding of local residents that the council would reinstate and restore the site of the dump and numerous commitments had been given about tree planting.
He said that Mrs Fitzgerald claimed the council's renewed dumping activities contravened its own development plan for the area, which was one of high amenity and scientific interest.