James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The issue I raise today concerns the Drehid landfill facility in north-west Kildare. The landfill is well established, has been in operation for some years and, dare I say it, an uneasy peace existed between the facility and locals until recently. However, there have been difficulties recently which have exacerbated the relationship, strained matters and caused considerable concern, unrest and upset to the surrounding area for some miles around. The landfill has seen an escalation of activity since earlier this year. I understand that the landfill was approaching end of life at the end of last year but a decision was taken in February or certainly spring of this year to ramp up the intake of the landfill from 120,000 tonnes per annum to 360,000 tonnes per annum. Obviously, a trebling of the volume of waste going into the landfill places a considerable burden on neighbouring communities and the wider county as people traverse multiple local and backroad routes to access it. This trebling occurred almost overnight. I understand a formula was used, which I might come back to in a moment, and that a number of local authorities simultaneously invoked emergency powers to enable this, technically, to happen. However, it has meant that all of a sudden the volume of trucks pounding down the local roads surrounding the landfill has hugely increased.

The landfill is in a relatively rural and remote area and the only approach routes are across local, rural roads. As a local representative before I came into this House, I was very familiar with complaints on the standard of those roads as they were not to mind after 360,000 tonnes of waste will have pounded down them across every hour of the day, every day of the week. There has been no attendant infrastructural improvement to the roads surrounding the landfill since permission was granted to treble the volume of waste. The local authority suggests there are a number of approved haul routes but in my opinion and that of the residents for a radius of many miles around the landfill, these roads are totally inadequate for the volume of traffic now traversing them. It also seems grossly unfair. Everybody understands that waste has to go somewhere and we even understand that, at times, it has to go to Kildare, but I understand anecdotally that the Drehid landfill is now taking waste from almost the entire greater Dublin area. I understand that the delays with the Poolbeg incinerator have led to a concentration of waste at Drehid landfill. I understand there is a landfill in Galway but obviously Drehid is closer to Dublin. It seems completely disproportionate, unfair and overly burdensome on the residents of Kildare to have to suffer and become the dustbin of Dublin.

What actions are in place to sustain and manage this? What kind of infrastructural improvements will accompany the trebling of capacity? Is the Minister aware of this development and is it in fact the case that waste from the entire greater Dublin area and surrounds is being deposited in the Drehid landfill in north-west Kildare? What infrastructure needs to be put in place and how soon can we get it? It is completely disproportionate and unfair to expect a rural location in north-west Kildare to absorb the volume of trucks, waste, odours, traffic and heavy goods vehicles from miles around pounding down its roads on a daily basis and in the absence of any public consultation. I understand that an application is due to be made to the EPA to, as it has been put, regularise the situation, but this has come about at the flick of a switch when there was an emergency invocation in February or March. It is unsustainable and unfair on the residents of Kildare and I ask the Minister to address it as a matter of urgency.

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