This article is from page 11 of the 2009-09-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 11 JPG
A MYSTERY businessman has ap- proached Clare County Council ex- pressing an interest in taking over the operation of the Central Waste Management Facility in Ballyduff resem
According to information released at last night meeting of Clare County Council, the unnamed businessman approached the local authority with a proposal before it became public knowledge that the local authority was examining future options for the EE Tateueee
Clare County Council were heavily criticised last nights for circulating information about the possible future of the landfill to members of the Bal- lyduffbeg Liaison Committee before it was shown to the elected members of Clare County Council.
‘I tabled this motion after receiving an email from a council official in re- lation to the future of Ballyduffbeg.
“Part of that email stated that the Community Liaison Forum met the previous night and was told that the council was examining a number of options for the landfill,’ said Cllr Martin Conway (FG)
“I support a detailed discussion on this. We need to consider all the options, especially the fact that it 1s over a million euros below it’s target for last year.
“But I have a problem with this be- ing discussed with people who are not the policy makers of this council. We are the policy makers of this council. This discussion needed to take place here first — with the elected members of Clare County Council and not with other non-elected groups. I am demanding that we receive an apol- ogy for this happening.”
Speaking on the motion north Clare
councillor and chair of the Ballyduff- beg Liaison Committee, Joe Arkins (FG) said that the council had a “rush of blood to the head” when position- ing the Central Waste Management Facility in Inagh.
“For the record, I was one of the people who never believed that the council should have gone down this route.
“IT don’t know why we ever went down the route of a central waste management facility. I think that some county council officials must have had a rush of blood to the head,’ he said.
‘We need to see what the best op- tion should be for the community around the landfill. Whether we like it or not, a number of issues have been raised by the EPA about our management of the landfill down the years. We need to have a serious look at this landfill.”
Responding to the discussion Coun- ty Manager, Tom Coughlan said that it was “regrettable” that the infor- mation was circulated to the liaison committee before the councillor and also criticised sections of the local media “misleading” reports about the future of the facility.