Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It is a sad tale but I hope it is one that has a somewhat better ending, as the Deputy says. It was a quarry, dating back to the 1950s. In 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, issued a waste licence. A revised licence was issued in 2006 but the EPA then had to take court action in 2009 because there was significant odour pollution at the site. The EPA found that the site was not operating in accordance with the licensing conditions. It was effectively abandoned in 2010, when enforcement actions were being pursued, and the EPA took possession of the site in 2010. A fire broke out on the site in 2011, as the Deputy said, requiring an emergency response by the State.

That is the sad tale of why we are here. The issue is real and relates to odours and to leachate into the River Morell, which is a tributary of the Liffey. This is a shocking example of how the cost of protecting our health increases when we do not look after our local environment. The expectation is that we will be able to manage it and that, at the end of this process, we will be able to restore it safely into a multi-use public park. That will mark the end of what has been a sorry saga.

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