More than 20 trailers of waste in trucks moving through Dublin Port have been impounded following an investigation by Dublin City Council's waste enforcement unit.
The trucks included 17 impounded before boarding a ferry to England. However, these were found to be in technical breach of waste regulations due to problems with paperwork and they were released this afternoon.
Ms Sonia Dean, head of waste enforcement, told ireland.comthat 24 trucks in all have been stopped over the past two days.
Four are still being detained at the port and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is assisting with the investigation.
Ms Dean said the unit, which has been operating fully since September 1 stlast, had initiated a number of checkpoints in recent months and that it was aware of various operators' activities and movements.
It instigated a check yesterday, during which 17 trucks operated by one company were detained. These were released, however, after it was found the operator was merely in technical breach of regulations and not involved in any "criminality".
However, during the operation, the waste enforcement officers came across a number of other trucks, including two from Laois and one from Kildare that are still being detained. These will be referred back to their own local authority areas because the waste could not be emptied at Dublin Port, Ms Dean said.
It is understood the trucks concerned contain mainly scrap metal and glass.
There are strict guidelines about how waste material can be shipped for recycling. Ms Dean said she expected her unit would uncover "a lot of people" in breach of the various regulations since it had begun a campaign of "vigorous enforcement".
She said the unit has the capacity to carry out round-the-clock monitoring and enforcement and would do so.
The enforcement unit may also notify the Revenue commissioners and other authorities where it deems this necessary.
Concerns have mounted recently about the level of illegal dumping and waste export activity carried on by operators in the State. Many of them appear to be evading the authorities due to the fact they carry some of their waste over the border or across the Irish Sea.