Connacht's waste management strategy has been rejected by an east Galway group opposed to landfill in its area. However, claims made by the group have been dismissed by the consultants, MC O'Sullivan, who drew up the waste plan for the local authorities.
The Kilrickle/Ballinahistle Anti SuperDump Committee hired consultants, following selection of Kilrickle as one of three possible landfill sites for Galway after 2005.
The three sites - Kilrickle, Newbridge and New Inn - were identified as part of a strategy that recommends a combination of incineration or thermal treatment, landfill and recycling waste.
Currently, the Poolboy dump at Ballinasloe is the temporary repository of Galway's rising waste mountain, and the strategy aims to cut drastically dependency on landfill, mainly by adopting the thermal treatment/incineration option.
So far, incineration or thermal treatment has been dominating the debate, and a US expert opposed to it as a form of waste disposal, Dr Paul Connett, recently warned of the risks that such a method poses to Galway Bay oysters, other marine harvests and agricultural production in the area.
However, the Kilrickle/Ballinahistle committee is determined to make sure that landfill is not forgotten, with the publication of its study late last week.
The study by consultants O'Callaghan Moran and Associates of Cork finds that the Kilrickle site is not suitable for landfill, based on a review of all available data. Landscape, land use, ecology, archaeology, geology and hydrogeology, traffic, road access, haul distance and development costs were the main headings considered.
It notes, for instance, that tributaries of the Kilcrow river, which has been designated as an important salmonid river by the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board, were ignored by MC O'Sullivan in the Connacht draft plan. It also highlights the impact of landfill on groundwater supplies.
Commenting on the report, the committee says it shows "major discrepancies between legally-established Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) selection criteria and the methodology employed and conclusions reached" by the local authorities' consultants.
The committee has demanded the Kilrickle/Ballinahistle area be removed from the selection process.
Mr P. J. Rudden of MC O'Sullivan told The Irish Times that no final decision had been taken on any landfill site and that all areas under consideration were dealt with in the strategy plan on a comparative basis.
The EPA's draft guidelines on landfill had been referred to by his group while the local committee's consultants appeared to be working on a different set of references, he said.
The main problem was gaining access to the three sites to carry out further assessments, Mr Rudden said. Currently, some landowners have not granted permission, and Galway County Council has been considering serving legal notices if resistance continues. "If we are granted access, any or all of these three sites might be ruled out. To do that, we need that further information," he commented.