A 28-acre field in south Co Dublin, containing nine types of orchids, may become a landfill site.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is investigating six possible locations for the landfill. One proposed is in Kilternan, south Co Dublin, a site owned by Roadstone.
If accepted, it would involve the destruction of a field, located between the Ballycorus Road and Barnasligan Lane, which contains almost half of the 23 orchid species found in the country, according to Mr Wyndham Beere, treasurer of the Orchid Society of Ireland.
Some of the species include white spotted orchids, bee orchids, tway common blade orchids and a three-foot high spotted march orchid. Mr Beere also said there were at least 10,000 of the more common pyramidal orchids.
"We're talking about something very special here. It's our heritage and they want to put a dump on it. It's crazy. You can put a dump anywhere," he said.
Ms Gay Wright, a member of the Kilternan Residents' Association who lives beside the orchid field, said she was conscious of the importance of preserving the field.
"I think it should be preserved as a wildlife meadow and used for educational purposes. It is probably the last wild meadow in south Co Dublin. The council should be paying to protect this, it would be criminal to destroy it," she said.
According to a spokesperson for Roadstone, there are no plans to sell or dispose of any of the site. The company did not comment on whether the field might be used for a landfill in the future.
Mr Peter Goodwin, senior engineer with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown council, said that that the consultant company, RPS-MCOS, would have completed its assessment of the six sites in a number of weeks and would submit its report to the council in September. He stressed that when choosing a site, all factors would be taken into account.
"If there is something rare there, it is something that has to be taken on board," he said.
He also said that the public would be able to make appeals if and when the council sought planning permission for the landfill site, and later if it sought a waste licence.
Meanwhile, Mr Brendan Sayers, an orchid expert at the National Botanic Gardens, said it was improbable the site contained the four species of rare orchids protected under the Flora Protection Order. "It's not their natural habitat," he said.