15 November 2001 Edition
Residents want Dublin Waste out
BY MICHAEL PIERSE
A residents' association in Dublin's East Wall has called for the disgraced 'Dublin Waste' company to be "immediately and forever put out of business", following allegations that one of the company's depots poses a health hazard to people living in the area.
East Wall Residents Association Chairperson Joe Mooney told An Phoblacht, as we went to print, that Louis Moriarty, the director of Dublin Waste, following contacts with local Sinn Féin Councillor Nicky Kehoe, has asked for a meeting with residents. The attitude of residents, said Mooney, is unchanged: "We want them out."
The current debacle in East Wall follows a series of blows for Dublin Waste recently. Following the discovery last month of illegally dumped hospital waste at a site in County Wicklow, the company, Moriarty and his fellow director, his wife Eileen, were forced by the Dublin District Court to pay a fine of £8,456 on Tuesday of this week.
The court found them guilty of being unable to account for almost 25,000 tonnes of rubbish the company had dumped, thus breaching the terms of its license. Domestic hospital waste, including body fluid bags, bloody bandages and swabs, were found in the illegal dump, uncovered at a site in the Glen of Imaal, Co Wicklow, on 25 October last.
Despite earlier denials, Louis and Eileen Moriarty admitted to having failed to comply with their waste disposal license. Legally, such waste should be incinerated.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said last week that it had successfully prosecuted Dublin Waste on 27 Febuary last, when the company had admitted to non-compliance with its license - by keeping no waste records, disposal at a waste facility not agreed with the EPA, and failure to keep a record of nuisance inspections.
Residents in East Wall have been complaining about the company since its arrival in the area three and a half years ago. The Dublin Waste depot which has become the subject of controversy had operated for over a year without planning permission from Dublin Corporation. Following complaints from locals, permission was eventually granted for the company to operate from its East Wall premises, with one of the conditions of its licensing that the company was only allowed to store empty skips. Since then, the residents' committee says, "those conditions have been consistently broken, most seriously with the regfular storage of waste on the premises".
Foul smells and infestations of flies have dogged local homes and businesses since the company's arrival, they say. One resident, Helen McCabe, said she was not surprised about revelations of the company's malpractice elsewhere: "When your house is crawling with flies on Christmas Day, you know something is not right," she said.
Despite ongoing complaints from residents to Dublin Corporation, the response has been "unsatisfactory", Joe Mooney says, describing the £8,456 fine as "ridiculous".
Nicky Kehoe echoed Mooney's comments, saying that immediate action should be taken to ensure "the full rigours of the law are applied against the company's owners".
A residents' association in Dublin's East Wall has called for the disgraced 'Dublin Waste' company to be "immediately and forever put out of business", following allegations that one of the company's depots poses a health hazard to people living in the area.
East Wall Residents Association Chairperson Joe Mooney told An Phoblacht, as we went to print, that Louis Moriarty, the director of Dublin Waste, following contacts with local Sinn Féin Councillor Nicky Kehoe, has asked for a meeting with residents. The attitude of residents, said Mooney, is unchanged: "We want them out."
The current debacle in East Wall follows a series of blows for Dublin Waste recently. Following the discovery last month of illegally dumped hospital waste at a site in County Wicklow, the company, Moriarty and his fellow director, his wife Eileen, were forced by the Dublin District Court to pay a fine of £8,456 on Tuesday of this week.
The court found them guilty of being unable to account for almost 25,000 tonnes of rubbish the company had dumped, thus breaching the terms of its license. Domestic hospital waste, including body fluid bags, bloody bandages and swabs, were found in the illegal dump, uncovered at a site in the Glen of Imaal, Co Wicklow, on 25 October last.
Despite earlier denials, Louis and Eileen Moriarty admitted to having failed to comply with their waste disposal license. Legally, such waste should be incinerated.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said last week that it had successfully prosecuted Dublin Waste on 27 Febuary last, when the company had admitted to non-compliance with its license - by keeping no waste records, disposal at a waste facility not agreed with the EPA, and failure to keep a record of nuisance inspections.
Residents in East Wall have been complaining about the company since its arrival in the area three and a half years ago. The Dublin Waste depot which has become the subject of controversy had operated for over a year without planning permission from Dublin Corporation. Following complaints from locals, permission was eventually granted for the company to operate from its East Wall premises, with one of the conditions of its licensing that the company was only allowed to store empty skips. Since then, the residents' committee says, "those conditions have been consistently broken, most seriously with the regfular storage of waste on the premises".
Foul smells and infestations of flies have dogged local homes and businesses since the company's arrival, they say. One resident, Helen McCabe, said she was not surprised about revelations of the company's malpractice elsewhere: "When your house is crawling with flies on Christmas Day, you know something is not right," she said.
Despite ongoing complaints from residents to Dublin Corporation, the response has been "unsatisfactory", Joe Mooney says, describing the £8,456 fine as "ridiculous".
Nicky Kehoe echoed Mooney's comments, saying that immediate action should be taken to ensure "the full rigours of the law are applied against the company's owners".