Wicklow County Council may face difficulty recouping millions of euro in costs incurred in making safe illegal dumps in west Wicklow, because of the council's own role in the affair, it has been claimed.
Following the discovery of hospital and mixed waste at two large-scale sites at Whitestown, near Baltinglass, estimates of the cost of rehabilitation have run as high as €5 million.
From the outset the council said it would pursue whoever was responsible and seek to recoup the full costs of remedial work.
However, the county manager, Mr Eddie Sheehy, has since acknowledged that the council itself may have been using the Whitestown dump over a number of years.
The owner of the dump, Mr John Reilly, recently submitted a bill to the council for more than €1 million, alleging council use of the unauthorised facility for more than two decades.
The council also recently acknowledged that it had used an illegal dump on land belonging to Roadstone near Blessington, to dump the contents of road-sweeping machines.
According to the Fianna Fáil TD for Wicklow, Mr Dick Roche, the council's "tacit acknowledgment" that it may have used a number of illegal dumps itself could create difficulties in subsequent prosecution of land-owners on whose land it dumped waste.
Mr Roche said council officials did not know the extent of arrangements made by land-owners or hauliers with the council's overseer in west Wicklow, Mr John Mullins snr.
Mr Mullins was found dead in his home close to the Whitestown dump earlier this year, after the discovery of the illegal dumps.
Mr Reilly has claimed Mr Mullins and other officials not only knew of his dump over a period of years, but had attempted to purchase it from him, later offering him a joint operation.
Mr Reilly said he refused both options and was subsequently shut down by the county council late last year.
The council is now applying to the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, for the cash necessary to fund the costly investigation and remedial work at Whitestown and elsewhere.
However, according to Mr Roche the council's options are for a long and costly court case with no certainty of recouping costs.
Council officials were unavailable for comment yesterday.
In a previous report to council members the local authority officials detailed up to 100 illegal dumps in the county.
It has successfully prosecuted one waste contractor in the Blessington area for operating an illegal transfer station.
