Residents of northwest Kildare have reacted angrily to Kildare County Council's decision to grant permission for a second superdump for the county.
About 70 people joined a protest march yesterday afternoon to voice their opposition to the landfill at Drehid in the Bog of Allen, which will have a life span of 20 years and take in 120,000 tonnes of waste per anum.
The county manager approved the Bord na Móna development with 21 conditions but residents said they would appeal to An Bord Pleanála.
James Grady, the chairman of the North Kildare Environmental Promotion Group, led the protest from Prosperous to Clane, Johnstown Bridge, Carbury, Derrinturn and Allenwood.
"Our group was formed over four years ago and we have a significant amount of work done against the proposal," he said. "We have a number of experts employed and we were always going to appeal the decision to grant permission."
The development will also include a composting facility.
He said residents were concerned about possible risks of pollution to drinking water, the inadequate road infrastructure and the presence of rare species of flora and fauna.
Bord na Móna submitted an environmental impact statement with its planning permission application outlining measures to protect the environment. It has always stressed there would be no threat to the local area and its residents.
The county manager had published a notice of his intention to grant the permission last February.
Cllr Brendan Weld said: "This is going to be the biggest superdump in Europe. Apart from the threat of ground pollution, we have established beyond reasonable doubt through hydrologists that there are two aquifers under the Drehid/Timahoe dump site."
The other superdump at Calf Field on the Kildare-Meath border is the subject of a Bord Pleanála oral hearing.