McManus takes Wicklow dumps issue to Europe

The deputy leader of the Labour Party, Ms Liz McManus, is to refer the State's handling of illegal dumps in Wicklow to the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament.

Ms McManus said she was unhappy that "the only deal available from most owners of illegal dumps appears to be to leave the waste in the ground".

Confirming that she had lodged papers with the European Parliament, Ms McManus said she wanted an investigation "into the record of the authorities, both local and national, in tackling this environmental issue".

The Wicklow TD, who passed on one family's letter of complaint to Wicklow County Council about Whitestown dump in the late 1990s - which the council subsequently acknowledged had gone missing - said "the local authority failed to investigate in time to prevent further illegal dumping".

In recent weeks Roadstone has announced plans to seek approval to retain waste in a dump on its land at Dillonsdown, near the Blessington reservoir and adjacent to new housing in Blessington village. Brownfield Restoration Ltd, which now owns the illegal dump at Whitestown, has applied to Wicklow County Council and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for permission to convert the site to a licensed landfill.

Ms McManus said she was deeply disappointed at the lack of action by the State "to ensure full restitution to the highest environmental standards and to exert the full rigours of the law upon the perpetrators".

"Despite extensive powers in the Waste Management Act, legal action was only taken in one case, Coolnamadra. At other sites the proposals of restitution do not include removal of all waste.

"Despite investigation by the Criminal Assets Bureau there has been no outcome to their investigations. The record of the authorities on this issue fails to live up to the requirements of the Waste Directive," she said.

"I am seeking this investigation out of my concern at the long delays in bringing justice to bear on this issue and the grossly unsatisfactory approach now being adopted by Brownfield Restoration Ltd in relation to Whitestown and of Cement Roadstone Holdings at the site at Blessington with regard to their proposed restitution of the sites".

Labour MEP Proinsias De Rossa has undertaken to support the petition.