State could part fund remediation of Wicklow dump
THE State will cover part of the “substantial” costs for the remediation of the illegal landfill at Whitestown so all the financial burden doesn’t fall on Wicklow County Council.
Cllr Joe Behan sought an update on the remediation costs of the illegal dump near Baltinglass and the significant costs involved.
The status of Whitestown was raised at Monday’s meeting of Wicklow County Council as Cllr Behan noted a reference to Whitestown under the heading of ‘contingent liability’ as the elected members were asked to approve the annual financial statement for 2023.
Cllr Behan said: “There’s reference made to Whitestown and yet again no information about what the financial liability of the cleaning up of Whitestown is going to be for this council and the people of this county.
“Now, I understand from another source, but not from the top table, that there has been a recent court hearing in relation to Whitestown and I would appreciate if the Chief Executive could update us as to what happened at that particular court hearing in recent weeks.”
Chief Executive Emer O’Gorman stated that the matter was still before the courts and has been the subject of a number of hearings. The Council is due back in court on June 10.
“There was a recent case heard on April 18 in relation to motions and orders not having been completed within the timeline as set out by the court, but other matters have superseded, as in the remediation plan has changed since the original records were made, so it is still ongoing. There are live orders from the court
“A number of judgments have been made in relation to the remediation at the site and the instruction is that it has to be remediated off-site, and we have discussed this before, about where that might be or not be, as the case might be.
“We are in discussions with our colleagues in the Department of Environment, Climate and Community because ultimately the cost of the remediation is going to be significant and it will be a matter for the State and not just Wicklow County Council, so the burden doesn’t fall completely on the local authority.
“We do not know the extent of those costs as yet, but from a financial management point of view, it is prudent to have a contingent liability reserve there to deal with all manner of legal costs that are there.”
Head of Finance, Brian Gleeson, said the contingent liability is standard accounting practise.
“Until such time we get an exact figure we can’t include it in the accounts but obviously it is going to be a substantial amount. And for that amount we would include a contingent liability to flag to the members here today and obviously the general public, following publication of the report, that this is a significant issue that will obviously impact on the accounts further down the field.”