A waste company operator has been sentenced to a nine-month suspended prison sentence after he was found guilty of charges relating to an illegal dump.
The farmer who owned the land on which the illegal dump was situated was sentenced to a nine-month suspended jail term.
Those before the court were Paul Keely (40), of West End Main Street, Banteer, Co Cork, the owner of Keely's Wheelies; and John Casey (33), of Meetinny, Rockchapel, Co Cork.
Keely and Casey had pleaded guilty to collecting waste without a permit, and also to the transportation or the disposal of waste in a manner that would cause environmental pollution.
Casey was also charged with the disposal of waste oMarch 4th and March 5th, 2002.
Keely's Wheelies pleaded guilty to disposing of waste at a facility that lacked a permit, causing environmental damage and also profiting from dumping waste while not possessing a licence.
The offences under the Waste Management Act 1996 carry a maximum 10-year jail term or a fine of €25 million.
Mr Billy O'Sullivan, of Cork County Council, told the court that a Cork County Council surveillance operation was in place at the Meetinny site in February 2002.
During this surveillance, the officials observed a lorry dumping rubbish at the site.
The Cork County Council investigators, backed up by gardaí, raided the site.
The officials found a quarter acre site of rubbish in a landfill and "sewage fungus" at a nearby water course.
Mr O'Sullivan said there had been a "serious deterioration in water quality" and that the water course was "seriously polluted".
The outflow from the landfill was feeding into the River Feal, an internationally renowned site for wild salmon, and also feeds the drinking water for the town of Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick.
The site had been in operation for five or six months.
Judge Patrick Moran bound Keely to the peace for three years and banned him from operating a waste disposal company. He ordered Keely's Wheelies, which ceased trading in October 2002, to pay a fine of €1,000.