Sinn Féin TD for Wicklow/East Carlow John Brady has described plans for an increased 40,000 tonnes of waste at Ballynagran landfill as extremely alarming.
Teachta Brady said:
“Wicklow County Council have approved a temporary increase of an additional 40,000 tonnes of waste for Ballynagran landfill. This increase will bring the annual intake this year to 190,000 tonnes, 40,000 tonnes above the maximum tonnage under planning conditions. The EPA has pushed for this and has granted technical amendments to the licence for Ballynagran.
“This has come about because the landfill at Drehid in Co. Kildare has exceeded its annual EPA licence capacity. Clearly, this emergency situation was seen coming however, there was a failure to put in place any plans to deal with it and now Wicklow will become the dumping ground because of this failure.
“We know that Ballynagran landfill is already rated by the EPA as the worst dump in the State. Rather than doing something to change this, we will see thousands of additional waste instead.
“Furthermore, it is concerning that this decision has been agreed with no consultation with locals or public representatives whatsoever. Hundreds of officials complaints to the EPA regarding the landfill detailing the horrendous conditions that people have been forced to live in have gone ignored in this decision making process. I am aware of a family who had no option but to leave their own home one year ago and haven’t been able to return since because of the odour.
“A letter detailing this decision was circulated late Friday evening without any warning. Locals and public representatives should have been made aware of the emergency situation a long time ago. Wicklow County Council have not taken into the account the legitimate concerns of locals and instead are about to make a bad situation much worse.”
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