A forested site situated two kilometres from the north Co Clare village of Inagh has been selected as the most suitable location for the county's proposed new central landfill site.
The selection of the Ballyduff Beg site by Cork-based consultants Fehily, Timoney and Co, acting on behalf of Clare Co Council, follows a 17-month selection process which considered 84 sites throughout the county.
Following a preliminary assessment, three of those sites were placed on a shortlist last February. Last September, that was reduced to two after the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms Sile de Valera placed preservation orders on archaeological sites at the Cappalea site in Kilmaley.
At a council meeting held in committee last Friday evening, it was recommended that following site investigations of the remaining two sites - Ballyduff Beg in Inagh and Boolynagleragh in Lissycasey - the Council should commission an Environmental Impact Study of the Inagh site to further determine its suitability for a waste management facility.
According to a spokesperson for the recently formed Inagh Anti-Landfill Group yesterday, the village is in a state of shock following the recommendation, which forms part of a process that will replace the county's existing central landfill at Doora, outside Ennis.
A spokesperson for the Inagh group said yesterday: "The recommendation made is being treated with total disbelief. The Kilmaley site was ruled out because of archaeological considerations, but in Inagh people are not being taken into consideration and surely people are more important than artefacts."
She said the proposed site - located on one of the highest points in the parish and less than half a mile from a river than flows into the Atlantic at the seaside resort of Lahinch - would carry substantial pollution risks.
Already, ail representative, Ms de Valera has voiced her opposition to the move, claiming that "Inagh is not a suitable location for the proposed landfill site." The group has also received support from the Irish Forestry Unit Trust, the owners of the land.
The Anti-Landfill Group is to hold a public meeting on Wednesday night.
