A LEADING waste management company has been fined for breaching its licence after complaints of foul odours from a landfill site in Co Galway.
Greenstar Recycling Holdings Ltd was convicted on two counts following the complaints.
People living near the site, at Kilconnell in east Galway, the biggest landfill in the west of Ireland, said their lives had been adversely affected by the smells from the dump. Ten people gave evidence at a two-day hearing in November on how their lives had been impacted by the foul odours.
Yesterday, at Loughrea Court, Judge Elizabeth McGrath said she was satisfied the emissions from the Kilconnell dump were injurious to the environment and that the odours were causing a nuisance to local residents.
Judge McGrath, who rejected a plea for the Probation Act to be applied, fined the company €3,500. The prosecution was taken by the Environmental Protection Agency following the complaints from local people.
The November hearing was told that people living a mile away had to keep their windows closed because of the "gassy, rotten egg" smell from the landfill. Residents claimed they were prisoners in their own homes because of the foul smell, with some local people claiming they were considering moving house because of the smell.
Joe Hunter, an environmental consultant commissioned by the EPA to carry out week-long "sniff tests", said in his opinion Greenstar was in breach of the terms of the licence issued to it by the EPA on nine occasions.
British marine biologist Nick Jones, on behalf of Greenstar, said the assessment had given only a "snapshot" of the situation and was not a true overall assessment.
Tomás Finn, a spokesman for the Kilconnell, New Inn, Cappataggle Anti-Dump Group, claimed the court decision proved that Greenstar was not a fit company to operate the dump and called on it to take immediate steps to close the facility.
He said local residents had been opposed to the landfill site being located there from the outset and their worst fears had now been realised.
People living in the area had been subject to "vile and overpowering" odour emissions and the quality of their lives had been seriously impacted.
Greenstar Recycling Holdings Ltd was last night considering the judgment. The company was required to lodge a bond of €500 if it wished to appeal the court decision.