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[Press Release: June 26th, 2002] "MISSING FILE IS CRITICAL TO GARDA INQUIRY ON WHITESTOWN DUMP" SAYS DE BURCAGreen Party councillor Deirdre de Burca has expressed her concern at the recent revelation that a file containing critical information about past activites at the illegal dump at Whitestown in West Wicklow has gone missing. The information concerning the missing status of the file was revealed at a recent meeting between Wicklow County Council's Director of Environmental Services, Michael Nicholson, and the Bailey family who live next to the illegal dump.Councillor de Burca who was responsible for organising this meeting between the council and the Bailey family has expressed her shock at the revelation about the missing file."Mr and Mrs Bailey made a written complaint to the council in 1998 about apparent illegal activities at the Whitestown site, a site which was discovered late last year to have accepted over 300,000 tonnes of illegal waste" says councillor de Burca. "Unfortunately the council's investigations following the Bailey's complaints in 1998 did not reveal any significant illegal activity having occurred at the site. The letter from the Bailey family contained information about the registration numbers of lorries seen arriving at, and leaving the Whitestown site. This information would have made it possible to begin identifying who was responsible for the illegal dumping at the site. It is truly incredible that the file containing this critical information has now apparently gone missing from the council" she says. Councillor de Burca has expressed her surprise that this information concerning the missing Whitestown file was not revealed to the elected members of Wicklow County Council. "It seems incredible that the council did not inform the councillors about this development but that the disclosure was made in an apparently casual way to a local family from the Whitestown area. I believe that councillors had a right to this information as the missing information will obviously hold up the Garda investigation into illegal activities at the Whitestown site" she says. "This is yet another bizarre twist in a very disturbing process of inquiry" says councillor de Burca. "Members of the public have a right to feel extremely concerned about the manner in which investigations into illegal dumping are being carried out in the county. I intend to raise this issue at next Monday's meeting of Wicklow County Council and to seek a satisfactory answer as to why this information has been withheld from the councillors. I also intend to repeat my call for the Department of the Environment to appoint an Independent Commissioner to take responsibility for the investigations into illegal dumping in County Wicklow" she says. For further information please contact Deirdre de Burca on 086 8061450 or email deburca@wicklowgreens.org. |