Man fined €150 for dumping

A MAN found guilty of dumping in his estate was fined €150 last week at Bray District Court.

Joseph Moorehouse (54), 17 Deer Park, Bray, denied the dumping charge.

An inspector received a call regarding the matter on March 8, 2016. He found seven shopping bags full of domestic waste.

The rubbish included a leaflet addressed to ‘ The Householder, 17 Deer Park’.

The council wrote to Moorehouse and invited him for interview on July 12. He attended the interview and was shown photographs of the waste, but denied that it was his.

On November 16, there was another call to the same area with dumping including bags, clothes, DVDs and furniture found in hedging.

An election flyer and a Virgin media item were found, again addressed to ‘ The Householder’, rather than the person by name. Moorehouse was invited to interview but did not attend.

Solicitor Joe Maguire said that the materials found were not addressed to his client personally.

There was personal correspondence addressed to another person with an address in Wolfe Tone.

The inspector said that this person had given an explanation, that her rubbish had been in a skip outside her house. She did not know how it got to Deer Park. The skip would also have contained valuables such as metal, the court heard.

Mr Maguire said that the state hadn’t got over the first hurdle.

Moorehouse told Judge John Cheatle that he doesn’t have any rubbish. He said he usually eats at the chipper and leaves the waste there, and his wife takes the rest. He said that they are separated. His wife lives in Gorey and collects his rubbish occasionally.

Judge Cheatle said that the explanation was ‘unconvincing’. The judge said that there would be no reality to make an order for payment of €400 costs. ‘Hopefully this is a warning to Mr Moorehouse to dispose of rubbish in a more environmentally friendly way,’ said Judge Cheatle.