Wicklow County Council is to suspend commercial refuse collection from next week. It is the latest development in a long-running row between county manager, Mr Blaise Treacy, and some councillors over landfill sites.
According to Mr Treacy, the county dump at Ballymurtagh, near Avoca, is close to capacity and if it continues to take commercial as well as domestic refuse it will have to close in six months time. In the absence of commercial refuse the life of the dump could be prolonged for just a year.
Mr Treacy is proposing to develop a new 300-acre dump at Ballynagran, near Rathnew, which the council says it could "fast-track" if councillors amend the County Development Plan to include it.
However, the council has twice voted against the proposal for the new dump and further opposition has come from members of the Ballynagran Action Committee. The committee insists the planned dump could lead to pollution of the county's coastal beach resorts. It also claims the size of the dump indicates that refuse from south Co Dublin is to be tipped there as well.
On a proposal from the council chairman, Mr Liam Kavanagh (Labour), Mr Treacy has agreed to hold next week's scheduled meeting at the Avoca dump, to allow councillors to see how full it is. But he warned that whatever the outcome of the on-site meeting the suspension of commercial refuse will go ahead on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Irish Business and Employers Confederation has said it is "angered by the council's unilateral decision" and has called for the suspension to be withdrawn until alternative arrangements can be put in place.
