Cllr Tomás Sharkey
Louth County Councillor Tomás Sharkey has said that he believes the public have lost confidence in the state’s approach to tackling diesel laundering and dumping of waste.
The problem has been ongoing now for some time with nine incidents of laundered diesel dumping on Louth roads during the month of January costing the local authority €69,000.
Now Cllr Sharkey feels it is time to change the approach to restore public confidence.
He said: “For more than five years now Louth has been under a constant barrage from the dumpers of toxic sludge from diesel laundering. Not a week goes by where IBCs aren’t left on a roadside for the taxpayer to bear the brunt of a clean up.
“I know of many cases where the public and myself have made attempts to support the State agencies in preventing the dumping and apprehending the culprits. However, these attempts seem to be bearing no fruit.
“A number of years ago I sat in the County Council chamber and listened to officials speak of a multi agency approach between Revenue, the EPA and County Council, not to mention An Garda Síochána. Nothing seems to have come of this initiative. We have seen no visible successes in stopping the dumping of toxic sludge.
“I have called on council management to arrange for a presentation at the next meeting of Louth County Council to account for the work of this multi-agency approach.
“If and when this happens, I will be bringing officials to task as to why forensic evidence isnt being gathered, why the source of the IBC cubes isn’t being traced, why CCTV cameras aren’t installed at blackspots and why there have been so little charges and prosecutions. I will be telling officials that I find it hard to convince the public of the merits of their work when I cannot believe in it myself.”
