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[Press Release: September 15th, 2005] De Burca calls on County Manager to ‘consider his position’Green Party councillor, Deirdre de Burca, has called upon the Wicklow County Manager, Eddie Sheehy, to consider his position following his recent appearance before the All Party Oireachtas Committee on the Environment.The county manager appeared before the Oireachtas committee to answer questions about Wicklow County Council’s handling of the illegal dumps on Roadstone’s lands at Blessington. The Eastern Regional Fisheries Board and an Taisce also appeared before the committee for questioning. Roadstone declined the committee’s request to attend the meeting as the company claimed that it would be inappropriate to do so. The company stated that as its appeal against the EPA’s decision to refuse a waste licence for a landfill on its lands at Blessington had not yet been adjudicated upon, it did not feel that it was in a position to answer the committee’s questions. Cllr de Burca claims that during the meeting with the All-Party Oireachtas Committee, the County Manager refused to take any responsibility for the "wholly unsatisfactory" situation regarding the illegal dumps on Roadstone’s land in Blessington. "It was very difficult to listen to the Manager pass the buck when questioned by the Oireachtas committee about the illegal dumps at Blessington and refuse to admit any responsibility for the mess that currently exists regarding the investigation there" says de Burca. "It was also galling to hear him praising Roadstone and expressing the wish that other landowners on whose land illegal dumps were found had been as ‘cooperative’ as Roadstone". The Green Party councillor claims that it is unsurprising that Roadstone is being co-operative when the company has avoided any prosecution to date in relation to the large-scale and systematic dumping that occurred on its lands at Blessington over many years. "Some individuals made a fortune on these illegal dumps and to date nobody had been found guilty" says de Burca. "Yet these illegal dumps have been emitting toxic landfill gases only 20 metres or so from the nearest housing estate" she says. "In addition the groundwater supply under Blessington has been contaminated and the people of Blessington are afraid to drink the town’s water". Councillor de Burca claims that the county manager Eddie Sheehy has consistently failed to take charge of the illegal dumping issue in Wicklow since he took up his job in 2001. "In fact since that time Mr Sheehy has shown that what he is best at doing is burying scandals" she says. The Green Party councillor says that Mr Sheehy has struck sweetheart deals with Roadstone and allowed the company to take charge of investigations into illegal dumps on its own lands, that he has granted planning permission to Roadstone for a 38 acre quarry next to the illegal dumps and placed 50% of Dublin’s drinking water supply at risk, that he has encouraged his senior officials to give out as little information on the illegal dumps as possible, and that he has shown a contempt for councillors who have dared to ask legitimate questions about the illegal dumps. "This manager does not have a shred of credibility left" says de Burca. "I believe he has no option now but to consider his position and I am publicly calling on him to do so as a matter of urgency".
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