Councillors want inquiry into revenue from dumps

A substantial number of Wicklow county councillors have signed a letter to the Local Government Inspector of Audits, calling for a full inquiry into the whereabouts of revenue accruing to Wicklow County Council from the operation of its dumps.

The complaint is the latest twist in the county's increasingly bitter waste-management row and follows a special weekend meeting in which members were accused of accepting political contributions from a waste-management service-provider.

The acrimonious meeting also failed to agree a strategy to avoid strike notice, due to expire tomorrow, issued by the union representing the council's refuse-collectors.

The workers are concerned at attempts by the authority to withdraw from the door-to-door refuse collection business while council officials argue that its own dumps are almost full and point out that the elected members refused to include a charge for refuse collection services in their annual estimates.

However, the west Wicklow Labour councillor Mr Tommy Cullen says questions must be answered about how the Fassaroe dump near Bray filled up so quickly and how the Ballymurtagh dump, supposed to have a life of more than 25 years, developed in response to the Fassaroe difficulty, also filled up some 17 years before it was due.

Amid angry exchanges between the members at the special meeting on Saturday Mr Cullen said he wanted to know why "with a population increase of 2.8 to 3 per cent, waste into our dumps was up by 90 per cent?".

Mr Cullen alleged the council had not installed a weighbridge "as every other council does" to monitor the waste dumped by private contractors and he want ed to know "who had given the instruction that no weighbridge be built and who had said no documentation should be kept?

"Where is the revenue that should have accrued to this council? There are huge, massive discrepancies here that I believe should be investigated", he said.

He said the result was the waste management services were being privatised and "men will lose a third of their income and their pension rights." Mr Cullen circulated a letter of complaint addressed to the local government inspector of audits, calling for an investigation.

The signatories included Labour Party councillors Cullen, John Byrne, Liam Kavanagh, James O'Shaughnessey, Liz McManus, independent Nicky Kelly and Green councillor Deirdre de Burca.

A suggestion by Ms de Burca, that Fianna Fail council members received political donations from one of the private service providers met an angry response. Mr Michael Lawlor (FF) said they had heard enough abuse from Ms de Burca. He regretted he did not have anyone at the meeting to record what Ms De Burca had said, but he was prepared to do so in future.

The county secretary, Mr Bryan Doyle, objected to Mr Cullen's comments as they related to council officials who had acted at all times in the council's best interests.

Declaring that the meeting might be getting in the way of attempts to facilitate a withdrawal of the strike notice, the council chairman, Mr George Jones, brought proceedings to a close.

Ironically a similar strike by cleansing staff of Bray Urban District Council was settled only late last week after the acting county manager, Mr Hubert Fitzpatrick, concluded a deal with the unions which would see the council operate a pay-per-bag refuse collection service in competition with the private sector.