Recent wet weather prevents Ballyguyroe tests

The prolonged period of wet weather has meant that mandatory testing of leachate levels at the inactive Ballyguyroe landfill site have not been able to take place as required. However, Cork County Council say that they have a specialist contractor on standby to do the testing as soon as the weather dries up enough to allow the work to take place.

While the Environmental Protection Agency demanded the tests that form part of the licence conditions of the site be carried out last October, they have since been informed by the council of the situation.

The council said that in the meantime, ‘visual inspections are routinely carried out and there are no visible defects - the liner is considered to be in excellent condition’.

The site is no longer on the EPA’s register of National Priority Sites following a lengthy period when the site was continually found to be in breach of its licence conditions. Ultimately,

Cork County Council pleaded guilty to nine charges relating to Ballyguyroe in October 2022 and were fined almost €10,000 with costs of €20,340.55 agreed.

A subsequent inspection by the EPA in December of that year found improvements, and the most recent one in October 2023 found only relatively minor issues.