Work has started on the removal and permanent closure of one of Dublin’s largest and longest-operating illegal landfill sites, at a cost of up to €6 million.
The dump, which is estimated to hold 40,000 tonnes of commercial and domestic waste, has been operating for decades at Darndale Park in north Dublin.
Hazardous material including asbestos has been found in the dump, which is regularly subject to fires and is infested with rats.
Dublin City Council has spent several hundred thousand euro on periodic clearance of the landfill located opposite homes in Moatview Court and Belcamp Gardens.
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In 2019, after spending €230,000 the previous year to remove accumulated waste, the council said it was establishing a “multi-departmental” taskforce to develop a permanent solution for the site.
However, local residents said they saw little progress in resolving the issue.
“We were looking out every day at a six-storey pile of rubbish metres from our houses, trying to get the council to take responsibility for it, but they kept kicking the can down the road,” said Annette Flanagan, who has lived in Moatview Court for 39 years.
Residents were constantly having to deal with rats entering their homes, she said.
“You’d see the rats everywhere, and you’d hear them above you in the attic. People would take down their Christmas stuff and it would be eaten away by the rats.”
Residents’ concerns intensified after tests, carried out at the dump by the council in 2019, showed the presence of asbestos.
“We were always worried about what we were breathing in, especially with the fires, but now we knew. There’s terrible health problems, a lot of people have had cancer. People will say: ‘Well it’s an underprivileged area and you’re not eating right and you’re smoking or drinking’ - now that is a lie, I never drank.”
In 2022, Ms Flanagan approached the local Community Law & Mediation centre, which runs free legal advice clinics on environmental law. The centre approached the council on behalf of residents.
Last year, the council issued tenders for the full removal of the waste and the construction of a 2.5m wall between Darndale Park and a group of adjacent Traveller accommodation sites.
The work to remove the waste has started and is expected to take up to four months, the council said.
“It is expected that the cost for clean-up of this site will be between €4 million and €6 million,” it said.
The council said it has been “engaged in increased enforcement activity and has worked in co-operation with local gardaí from the Coolock area” at the site.
“As a result of this, no increase in illegal dumping has occurred at this site for approximately the last two years,” it said.
“Part of the current works involves the building of a boundary wall where the illegal dumping has taken place, and once all the current works are completed, it is proposed to develop the lands in question for community use.
“The increase in enforcement on this area together with the construction and development works are designed to prevent further illegal dumping on this site.”
It said it was not taking any legal action in relation to the dump.
“Dublin City Council has no evidence against any individual for illegal dumping at this site and consequently is not taking legal action against anyone for illegal dumping at this stage,” the local authority said.
Community Law & Mediation welcomed the start of work to remove the landfill, which was a “serious health and environmental hazard” it said.
“We remain prepared to take further action as necessary to ensure that the site is fully and safely cleared and that the community’s rights are protected,” it said.
Ms Flanagan said she hoped to see sports pitches, a sensory garden for children with autism and allotments on the land.
“I really hope the council do the right thing now,” she said.
“At the end of the day they are our landlords and they should never have left us living beside that.”
