The oral hearing on a proposed "superdump" at Silvermines, Co Tipperary, is set to go ahead early next month, over a year after the original hearing was scheduled to start.
Waste Management Ireland (WMI), which plans to locate a multimillion pound landfill with the capacity to take 450,000 tonnes of waste each year for 25 years, at a disused open-cast mine, is appealing against the decision by Tipperary (North Riding) County Council to refuse planning permission for the development.
In August last year the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in a preliminary decision, gave eight reasons for refusing WMI a waste licence.
Yesterday, WMI's development manager, Mr Mark Gilligan, said a number of consultants would be putting the company's case to the hearing in October. North Tipperary County Council refused planning permission for the project in November 1999.
It viewed the development as being incompatible with the economic development of the county, tourism in the region and that the presence of a landfill would endanger public safety.
The council's decision was to be examined by an An Bord Pleanala hearing in August, 2000. However, this was deferred on the request of WMI, who indicated they needed additional time to examine the EPA reasons.
These included: the instability of the disused mine and the dangers to ground water.