A Wicklow businessman has been fined €1 million for putting the drinking water in Blessington at risk of contamination by illegally dumping dry industrial waste.
John Healy (67) a married father with three sons, who owns Blessington Plant Hire and then also owned Blue Bins Ltd, collected waste from local companies before dumping it over a four year period on a small seven acre site called Dillonstown at the Roadstone (Dublin) Ltd site in Blessington.
Healy of Crosscool Harbour, Blessington pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to disposing of waste at Roadstone in a manner likely to cause environmental pollution and to disposing of it without a license under the Waste Management Act 1996 between, January 1, 1997 and October 31, 2001.
Judge Katherine Delahunt said the court accepted that Healy had been "by no means" the only person involved in this widespread illegal dumping operation and that it had been acknowledged that his involvement was only over a small area of the site.
She accepted he had mainly dumped non-hazardous waste but added that the site had been vulnerable to this.
Judge Delahunt said that the only reason Healy had engaged in this enterprise was for monetary gain and he had done so with disregard to the local environment. She added that this activity resulted in an entire site being remediated "at great expense".
Mr Donal O’Leary, who was employed as an Independent Environmental Consultant to assess the site, said he found "no engineered or probable natural barrier" between the waste and the ground water.
This ground water was the drinking water source for homes and businesses in Blessington and Mr O’Leary said he found contaminants in it which were in excess of standard drinking water guidelines.
He said the contaminants were consistent with what would have seeped from the waste dumped on the site.
Mr Murphy asked Judge Delahunt to accept that Healy was not part of "an enormous commercial enterprise" transporting vast amounts of waste from around the country and dumping it in Wicklow.
He said Healy showed remorse, embarrassment and shame for his actions having led a blameless commercial life. Healy had sold land and had set aside €300,000 to offer the court.