Ms Laura Burke:

The landfill site in east Galway had a licence from the EPA. The licence was granted in July 2004 to accept 100,000 tonnes of municipal waste annually. The licence was held between 2004 and 2013. Greenstar went into receivership in 2013. The then Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Galway County Council and the EPA were the guardians of the site in the interim. To be clear, financial provision was in place for this site. Money was set aside in the accounts for the closure, remediation and aftercare of the site. The banks, however, did not honour those arrangements at the time. The EPA initiated legal proceedings against the Greenstar Group, the Bank of Ireland and the bank appointed receiver to get the money that had been set aside to be used solely for the purposes of the closure, remediation and aftercare of the site. We brought that case to the High Court, which ruled against the EPA. It was a question of company law versus environmental law. We then appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. We were not satisfied that the money set aside for environmental remediation could be removed in the way that it had been, leaving the arrangements in place not honoured. There was, ultimately, a settlement in which the bank did not admit liability. A sum of money was paid over, however, that could then be used by Galway County Council for the closure, remediation and aftercare of the site. That site is now a landfill operated by Galway County Council, as Deputy Connolly stated. The closure of that landfill site is now being sought.