High Court proceedings are to be initiated against Meath County Council, the Minister for the Environment, the State, and the Attorney General by a Co Meath anti-dump group which has opposed a new landfill dump site.
Last October, consultants retained by the county council recommended a 290-acre site at Knockharley, Kentstown, east Co Meath, as the "preferred" location for the new landfill.
Yesterday, the anti-dump group said it had issued writs against the council for its alleged failure to comply with an EU directive on waste and, under the Waste Management Act 1996, for failing to produce a waste management plan for the purpose of the directive as soon as possible.
It also claims the Minister failed to stipulate or designate any time within which such a plan was to be drawn up.
The action is being taken by a newly-formed group, the Boyne Valley and Newgrange Environmental Protection League, and 16 residents from the Kentstown area. They are seeking a court order restraining the council from selecting "or otherwise proceeding with the acquisition of a landfill waste disposal site prior to the adoption of the waste management plan" as set out in the Waste Management Act.
They are also want an order restraining the council, its servants or the county manager from taking any steps to implement the selection or acquisition of a landfill site until the plan is drawn up and a declaration that the "purported decision of the county manager to acquire a landfill site at Knockharley, Co Meath, is void and of no effect". The anti-dump campaign says the Government and local authorities must acknowledge the growing waste problem by "employing real alternatives to landfill dumps". It says the proposed "super landfill dump" will reward the polluter and run counter to the EU's policy of "the polluter pays".
Meath County Council retained consultants MC O'Sullivan in 1996 to report on and recommend a suitable site for a new landfill. The existing dump at Basketstown is nearing capacity. The council has also drawn up a waste management strategy but the anti-dump group says this is not a waste management plan, with little reference to the new landfill.
By close of business yesterday, neither Meath County Council nor the Department of the Environment had received notice of the legal proceedings.