This article is from page 19 of the 2009-07-14 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 19 JPG
THE rotting carcass of a dead horse, 291 wrecked cars and a plethora of broken fridges, old car batteries and burned out car wrecks were found on land at Clonawee, Doora, on Septem- ber 15, a court heard.
The list was given by an officer of Clare County Council who was giv- ing evidence in the trial of Bernard McDonagh of John Paul Avenue in Cloughleigh, Ennis who was ac- cused of transporting, recovering or disposing of waste in a manner likely to cause pollution.
Senior Executive Engineer with Clare County Council, Robert Byrnes, told the court that he carried out an inspection on the lands and found “291 end-of-life cars, stacked three high in places” as well as vari- ous car components, fridges, freezers, electrical equipment, general house- hold waste and ends of carpets.
“I got the smell of the putrefying horse carcass some distance away. There were four living horses at the site and I believe from the state of decomposition, that the animal had died some weeks previously at the Sy Kone
The executive engineer said that he took 55 photos in all at the site but could only take a picture of the horse from a distance because “of the smell and the health risk.”
Mr Byrnes agreed that Mr McDon- agh had a business in scrap. The pros- ecution arose he said, because there were none of the necessary special containment or treatment measures to prevent pollution by chemicals in the car components and items such as fridges, which contain harmful
CFC gases.
These could get into the ground or possibly into the water system, he Crate
Under cross examination, by Lor- can Connolly BL for the defence, Mr Byrnes agreed he did not carry out any tests on the soil or water or take away any items for further examina- tion.
Judge Sean O Donnabhain agreed to an application from the defence to direct the jury to find the accused man not guilty.
Mr Connolly successfully argued that while Mr Byrnes had given evi- dence of his being an officially ap- pointed agent to carry out the inspec- tion, he had not produced in court the document which is his written appointment. This should be done as laid out in section 154 of the Local Government Act, Mr Connolly told the judge.