Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. As I said, I am not trying to catch him on the hop. I acknowledge that I have deviated from the Topical Issue submitted, for which I apologise. I will give a couple of other examples. In County Meath, Paddy Shiels, who supplied services to Meath County Council for years, found his company and his equipment was being used to supply to Meath County Council some services without his knowledge. He claims there was a loss of millions of euro and damage to his company as a result. There was a court case and the defendant pleaded guilty. Further allegations have been made, which were not answered, and Paddy Shiels has never been compensated. I and other Deputies, including Deputy O'Dowd, have been battling on behalf of Mr. Shiels for a number of years and Frank Connolly of Village magazine has asked questions of Meath County Council. The local authority has finally decided to initiate a public inquiry.

In another example of this type of difficulty, last month, Councillor Brendan Thornhill of Aontú came into possession of sworn affidavits on alleged malpractice and corruption in the planning department of Wicklow County Council, which resulted in millions of euro in losses. It is alleged decisions were made by Wicklow County Council without the knowledge of councillors. I understand this information was brought to previous Ministers with responsibility for the environment but nothing has happened. Years have passed without the individuals in question being able to get justice. Thankfully, owing to Councillor Thornhill's activities, the Garda has decided to initiate an investigation into the allegations.

With regard to dumping and the environment, Waterford County Council has had similar allegations made against it. A significant amount of illegal infilling has been taking place in Tramore landfill, Kilmacleague, Crough Wood in Rinn and Knockboy graveyard. It is alleged that in these cases there is a conflict of interest. On the one hand, Waterford County Council is the planning authority with the statutory obligation to protect European habitat sites and enforce the applicable environmental legislation while, on the other hand, it is also a transgressor. This is the key element.

An Bord Pleanála has confirmed that in the Comeragh Mountains planning permission was required but not sought by the council. I will give an example of how this costs money. In the Comeragh Mountains, Waterford County Council paid €110,000 for a group to dig up a special area of conservation and then had to pay €250,000 to restore it. There is another site in Middle Quarter in County Waterford about which I have just received an allegation that Waterford County Council is involved in an illegal infilling of a protected European habitat. If true, it will cost millions of euro to resolve. It is the transgressor-cop issue that is at the heart of these problems.

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