The Department of the Environment has, for the first time, given county councils in Louth and Monaghan more than €600,000 in funding to cover the cost of properly disposing of toxic waste left by illegal oil laundering.
Diesel laundering makes hundreds of thousands of euros a year for criminal gangs and smugglers along the Border and costs the Exchequer even more in terms of lost duties and revenue.
However, in recent years the gangs have started to randomly dump the barrels of toxic sludge-like tar that is left after they launder cheap agricultural coloured diesel with chemicals to make it look like genuine auto-diesel, which is effectively colourless. The barrels are then dumped on the side of roads. Local authorities are left with the expensive problem of having to export it to Germany for incineration because there is nowhere in Ireland that can dispose of it safely in accordance with the Waste Management Act.
In the most recent incident in Louth last week, three large barrels were found at the back of Annavernagh Mountain close to Edentubber and just 200 yards south of the Border.
A local man said he saw another six dumped just across the Border. Environmental teams from the councils have to be sent to safely collect the waste and ensure it has not got in to any watercourses. They then must hold it until it can be transported to Germany. In Louth, the large number of diesel laundering plants detected by customs officers, as well as a number of incidents where the smugglers just dumped the waste in a rural spot, has meant the cost of cleaning up has increased significantly.
A spokesman for the environment section of Louth County Council confirmed that as a result of the grant of €470,000 from the Department they can now budget €300,000 for the coming year and the balance will go towards their costs last year.The problem appears to be more extensive in Louth than Monaghan, where the county council received €147,000 from the Department.