A high court decision last month to shut the Carrowbrowne dump outside Galway has led to an intensive search to find a new "superdump" to cater for the waste needs of the city and county over the next 40 years.
However, the final location of the new facility is not expected to be confirmed until after the local elections in June, after a team of consultants came up with three possible locations for the proposed 100-acre site.
The issue has caused considerable controversy in Co Galway as there is much anger in the Ballinasloe area that the local landfill site at Poolboy has at present to cater for domestic refuse from Galway 40 miles away.
The local urban district council voted against leasing the Poolboy facility to Galway County Council just weeks before it began to accommodate some 400 tonnes of rubbish which the city produces each week.
Cllr Sheila Ganly said some Poolboy residents had considered taking legal action to oppose the extension of the facility, just as Carrowbrowne residents had taken a successful High Court case.
"What we cannot understand is why the Poolboy site is considered to be suitable when Carrowbrowne was closed down by the High Court because it was deemed unsuitable," said Ms Ganly. "It just does not make sense because considerably more infrastructural work had taken place at Carrowbrowne."
County councillors facing the task of selecting a more permanent dump site opted out of making a final decision yesterday because huge pressure is expected from lobby groups opposed to the dump in the three selected areas.
From Monday, all domestic refuse from Galway will be transferred to Ballinasloe. Yesterday the city's business community was granted three weeks to organise its own arrangements with private refuse collectors. Over the next three weeks, Galway Corporation will pay for the collection of commercial rubbish by private operators.