Roscommon County Council admitted last night that human sewage in illegal sludge pits came from the local authority's sewerage system, writes Sorcha Crowley
A spokesman for the council confirmed it had signed a contract with Evergreen Fields Ltd to remove sludge from the council's sewage plant. "The contract was on the basis that he was bringing it to a permitted outlet," the spokesman told The Irish Times.
The sludge pits, containing human sewage due to be sold on as fertiliser, were declared illegal by county manager Mr John Tiernan last week, following public outrage at their construction.
"We became aware in early December that there was neither a permit for the sludge pit nor planning permission to build it and ordered a stop to it immediately," he said.
Applications for a permit and planning permission were then submitted to Roscommon County Council by the landowner and the lagoon operator in late December.
Public objections to the pits led to the withdrawal of the applications last month.
Fuerty Action Group Against Pollution was formed at a public meeting two weeks ago. "We got an assurance from the county manager last Friday that the pits were illegal," said Mr Richard Gunning, chairman of the group.
"These sludge pits are in a scenic area, one at the top of a hill on the Suck Valley Walk. One of the pits is only 15 yards from a stile to facilitate tourists on their walk," he said. He called on Mr Tiernan to "discuss how to solve this problem".
The three sludge lagoons, measuring 30 yards square and 8ft deep, were built on a farm at Kilbegnet, on the Roscommon-Galway border. The pits could contain up to 450,000 gallons of sewage, according to Mr Gunning. One is currently full of human waste, the second is three-quarters full and the third is being dismantled.
The council issued a notice to the landowner and lagoon operator last Friday "to return the land to its former state and to remove the sludge in a permitted outlet or spread it on land in accordance with agricultural regulations within four weeks".
An RTÉ cameraman visiting the site on Tuesday was allegedly assaulted by two men. An RTÉ camera was thrown into a pit but was later removed. Gardaí are investigating the incident.