Residents to block Kerry landfill over Clare refuse plan

The landfill site licensed by the Environmental Protection Agency at Muingnaminnane, Co Kerry, will be blocked to trucks by local…

The landfill site licensed by the Environmental Protection Agency at Muingnaminnane, Co Kerry, will be blocked to trucks by local residents this weekend to highlight their opposition to proposals to accept rubbish from Clare.

Saturday's half-day protest is to be the start of a series of public protests and blockages which will see rubbish pile up on the streets of Tralee and the tourist capital, Killarney. The action was decided on by residents at a public meeting on Wednesday night.

Clare County Council is negotiating with Kerry County Council and its special policy committee to provide temporary landfill facilities from next June, when its site at Doora closes.

A previous request from Clare was turned down, with only one councillor, Cllr Ned O' Sullivan (FF) of Listowel, voting for the proposal.

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The renewed request is to come before the March meeting of Kerry County Council and is expected to get a more favourable response this time following vigorous lobbying by Clare and Kerry council officials.

But the Kilduff Residents' Association's decision to protest may scuttle Clare's sustained efforts.

The residents say their protest is not against the people of Kerry - they simply want to make councillors and people from all over Kerry aware of the fact "enough is enough".

Smells, rats, traffic, cattle with TB and brucellosis - "the first in 30 years" in the immediate area - were among the objections.

There have been objections since 1993 to the landfill but these were not strong enough, the meeting heard, and the landfill had increased in size to an all-county dump.