Co Galway faces a refuse crisis today with collection suspended in both the county and city. This follows a High Court order that the city dump at Carrowbraun was to be closed last night. The refuse situation has been exacerbated by the decision in Ballinasloe on Saturday to picket the town dump where the Galway refuse was to be transported following the court order.
An emergency meeting of the "Ballinasloe Against The Super Dump" group took the decision to picket the Ballinasloe dump and three lorries of refuse from Galway city were prevented from disposing of the refuse on Saturday.
The intervention of the gardai and council engineers failed to produce a solution and since then protesters have held a vigil at the entrance to the landfill site.
Traders in Galway have been told there will be no refuse collection in the city today. Other refuse collectors are slow to continue their service because they have no place to get rid of the rubbish.
The Ballinasloe group, led by Mr Gabriel Rohan, has called for the resignation of Galway assistant county manager Mr Declan Nelson and half of the urban council, who have been advocating the use of the Ballinasloe dump to cater for all of Co Galway's refuse pending a final site for disposal - which will not be ready for another six years.
A rota has been worked out by the group to keep a vigil on the entrance to the Ballinasloe dump and they are determined to continue their fight to prevent the refuse being transported from the city 40 miles away.
As a result of Saturday's action it is understood Galway County Council is to seek a court injunction in an effort to gain access to the Ballinasloe site.