Alleged corruption/ illegal dumping

wicklow | bin tax / household tax / water tax | news report Tuesday October 21, 2003 17:26 by Anti Bin Tax

The following piece is taken from today's Wicklow Times. It follows the murky tale of a private waste contractor involved in illegal dumping and allegedly facilitated in this by corrupt persons from Dunlaoghaire/ Rathdown County Council. The "polluter pays", my backside!

The murky underworld of illegal dumping was further revealed last week when Wicklow based waste company A Alert, which is controlled by the Redden family in Enniskerry, admitted to the Wicklow Times that they had bribed a county council official from Dunlaoghaire who was involved in running the Ballyogan landfill site.
The amount of money passed on to this official is alleged to be ÿ25,000 and resulted in the A Alert Waste company gaining ‘unrestricted’ access to that county’s landfill facilities. Indeed, so unrestricted was the access, that the Reddens were provided with their own key in order that they could dump illegally at one or two o’clock in the morning.
A driver who used to work for the Reddens told the Wicklow Times that the procedure was, that after collecting from restaurants across Dublin, the bin lorry would then go to the Ballyogan dump and with their truck’s lights turned off open the gates and dispose of their load.
While it is admitted by Paddy Redden that he made most of the payments, this driver confirmed to the Wicklow Times that he had been asked on a number of occasions to deliver an envelope containing money to an official at the dump.
Paddy Redden claims that he had not been the only person involved in this activity at the Dunlaoghaire dump and that there was a “bigger story” that would eventually come out. The going rate, charged by this official, for a laden lorry started out at one hundred and forty pounds but rapidly grew to four hundred per load. Sources in the waste business who spoke off the record to this paper claim that the scale of the illegal dumping by the Reddens in Dunlaoghaire is small compared to that of a major Dublin waste company.

As was revealed last month in the Wicklow Times, A Alert Waste have illegally dumped upwards of 100,000 tons of material made up of commercial, domestic, construction and demolition waste at their lands in Enniskerry. Paddy and Richard Redden own the company involved according to the latest filings in Companies Office. Both are listed as directors, although it is claimed by both brothers that Richard, who is member of the Garda Special Task Force, has nothing to do with the running of the business. However neighbours claim that they have seen Richard driving waste trucks on a number of occasions. When contacted by the Wicklow Times Garda Richard Redden admitted that he had driven the trucks, but only when his brother was on honeymoon. According to Land Registry details obtained by the Wicklow Times, the land on which the dump is situated is in the joint names of both brothers. Also both brothers have built houses alongside the dump.
Consultants for the Reddens have been trying to get a deal from Wicklow County Council whereby they would be allowed to leave the waste on their site and simply cap it. If allowed to do this they would save hundreds of thousands of euro.
As part of this deal they have come clean over their involvement in illegal dumping and offered both Wicklow County Council and Dunlaoghaire Rathdown County Council cooperation in identifying council staff that have been ‘compromised’ by illegal waste operators over the past number of years.
At a stormy meeting with Dunlaoghaire Council last week, County Manager Derek Brady and Director of Environment, John Fitzgerald, were not amenable to this suggestion and demanded to know the names of the people that were to be implicated. When this was not forthcoming Mr. Fitzgerald served a Section 18 notice under the Waste Management Act on Paddy Redden. This compels him under threat of criminal prosecution to provide all information he has of any illegal activity that has taken place with regard to illegal dumping.
While not prepared to discuss the matter in detail Mr. Fitzgerald told the Wicklow Times that he had had several meetings and that “A very active investigation is under way” He did confirm that he had served a Section 18 notice on Paddy Redden.
An attempt to secure a deal with Wicklow County Council is the first priority for the Reddens and it is believed that they have provided extensive information to Wicklow’s Director of Environmental Services, Michael Nicholson on locations and personnel involved in illegal operations. While Mr. Nicholson would not confirm or deny any details, The Wicklow Times have confirmed that an official is under investigation as a result of information supplied.
This paper has contacted both officials, in Wicklow and Dunlaoghaire, who the Reddens’ have named and they strenuously deny that they have been involved in any way.
The prospect of a deal for the Reddens with Wicklow County Council depends on a number of issues. The report commissioned by Wicklow County Council on the state of the Reddens’ land in Enniskerry and the amount of remediation required is due this week. If this is not too damming a deal could be done, but the question of criminal prosecutions has to be taken into account. The Special Task Force that was assembled to investigate illegal dumping, and which is operating out of Naas Garda station, has begun to look into the Redden case. Any evidence of bribery of county council officials that emerges might well complicate this.
In the light of extensive criminal activity it is unlikely that officials and councillors would agree to sanction a deal and in all likelihood push for the complete removal of all unauthorised material from the Enniskerry site.