The Ballymurtagh landfill site in Avoca was in the news during the week. Our fine government broke EU law by authorising the landfill. It did this knowing that potentially dangerous pollutants would seep into the Avoca river (recently given the dubious honour of being Ireland’s most polluted).

The European Court of Justice found that the decision to allow pollutants leach into the Avoca river was taken in part because the river was already polluted.

The EPA and Wicklow County Council were criticised for not aheard to EU laws protecting groundwater. Further, the EPA decision to grant a waste license in 2001 to the Ballymurtagh landfill contravened the directive.

Full text of the judgement can be found here by using the search term wicklow in the last search field.