More dumping and rubbish being burned at illegal dump on council land in Darndale

For a while, dumping and rubbish-burning around a giant illegal dump on council land near Moatview Court in Darndale stopped.

But now, residents who have been living for years with the landfill on their doorsteps say that it has started again.

There are regular fires at night when someone burns rubbish, says Annette Flanagan, who lives nearby. “The fires are constantly being lit.”

She has a video too, of a digger moving rubbish around the site last month.

A council spokesperson said Dublin City Council is aware of reports of recent dumping on the site.

“Waste enforcement have increased monitoring of this area in conjunction with An Garda Síochána who will facilitate our waste enforcement team with increased roadside checkpoints,” they said.

In September 2022, after years of locals pushing and saying they were ignored, Owen Keegan, who was then the council’s CEO, had laid out a plan to clear the waste and build a wall around the site.

In December, the council granted itself planning permission to build a wall around the site once the waste is removed, said a spokesperson this week, but it has not yet tendered for a contractor to remove the waste.

Flanagan says the problems from the dump are worse than ever, with toxic smoke from the fires. “When the fires are lit they are smouldering all the next day. It’s unreal.”

“It’s so dangerous,” she says. “God knows what everyone is inhaling.”

Past testing in late 2019 found asbestos-containing materials on the landfill’s surface, but that overall none of the pollutants presented a significant human health risk. That was spot testing, though, and the dump has grown since.

More than a decade on

For years, residents living around Moatview Court have complained about giant mounds of illegally dumped waste on council land, beside their homes.

Satellite images suggest these mounds have been growing there for well over a decade.

Residents have worried that the rubbish is making them sick, complained of plagues of rats, and said they are fearful of letting their kids out to play.

When Keegan finally laid out plans to clear it in September 2022, he also hinted at one reason the council hadn’t done anything until then.

They hadn’t wanted to spend money doing that before they were satisfied they weren’t just clearing a space for those responsible to start dumping again, he said.

That’s despite the minutes of a meeting in June 2020 of officials from the council, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Environment, and Gardaí noting that: “The scale of the problem and the health risks involved require immediate action.”

The council plan in September 2022 had several measures that focused on enforcement should illegal dumping kick off again. In particular, it included authorising gardaí to initiate prosecutions without council officials having to be present,and installing CCTV.

The CCTV would be in place within eight weeks, said Keegan.

A spokesperson for Dublin City Council didn’t respond directly to queries about whether the CCTV had been installed and whether that had assisted Gardaí or the council in bringing any prosecutions.

The council’s 2022 plan also included tendering for a contractor to treat and remove the waste, and building a wall around the site.

In December 2023, the council granted itself planning permission to build a wall on the site using its internal planning process, known as Part 8.

What is next?

On 12 January, Flanagan sent a video of a digger moving some of the rubbish around the illegal dump. She never sees gardaí in the area around the dump, she says.

Independent Councillor John Lyons, who has been raising the issue in council meetings, said that there is fresh dumping now happening. “It’s massively frustrating for residents,” he says. “It has been very drawn out.”

Council officials say they are committed to tackling the dump, says Lyons. “We are assured that it’s the highest priority.”

The council has not yet tendered for a contractor to remove the rubbish, but it is working on tender documents for that job and hopes to start the tender process in the coming weeks, says a spokesperson.

“The Housing Department’s Structural Engineering Unit have engaged Consultants to develop Tender Documents and the draft documents are currently being reviewed by our engineers,” says the council spokesperson.

Although the tender is a two-stage process, which has not yet begun, the council spokesperson says it hopes to be on site by June this year.

It is not clear why the council didn’t tender for a contractor earlier.

Flanagan says the council needs a robust plan in place for when it does finally remove the waste too, to ensure residents are not exposed to any further risk. “What have they got in place for the residents, if they come across toxic waste?”

The removal of the dump is likely to displace a lot of rats too so a public health plan is needed, says Flanagan.