Ms Geraldine Tallon:

This has been a long drawn out situation, as the Deputy knows. The Whitestown illegal dump was discovered in November 2001 and there appeared to have been systematic and large-scale dumping at Whitestown quarry from 1996 to 2001. A High Court action was initiated in 2005 but it came to a substantive hearing only in 2009. A whole variety of issues concerned discovery in the case so the court finally ruled on proceeding in December 2010. There was a mediation process in 2011, ultimately without any settlement. We have serious legal action from the European Commission in the waste area and we were conscious of the concern of the European Commission that illegal waste remained on site in Whitestown in 2011.

The Department, because of the EU compliance aspect, felt it had no option but to ask Wicklow County Council to consider remediation of the site. I understand work is ongoing. The cost is estimated at €6 million to €7 million. Waste has been removed from one area and other areas are being capped. The programme of works being undertaken is to be completed in 2014. As of now, we have provided €740,000 to Wicklow County Council to support the cost of the work it is undertaking.