Multi-million euro operation to clean illegal dump starts after decades of complaints
The illegal dump was situated just metres from people's houses
The illegal dump was situated just metres from people's houses
The illegal dump was situated just metres from people's houses
A digger at the site at Belcamp in Dublin
A multi-million euro operation to clean up a huge illegal dump just metres from the homes of disgusted residents has started after decades of complaints.
In 2012, the Sunday World highlighted how criminal gangs were suspected of being behind the waste collection racket making millions from the site at Darndale in north Dublin.
Photographs taken from a helicopter at the time show the huge scale of the dump, which continued to mount for years afterwards.
Local resident and campaigner Annette Flanagan this week said people had been complaining to Dublin City Council for 19 years, but little action had been taken.
Contractors moved in to begin work on the site on April 29, finally starting the long-awaited clean-up.
A council spokesperson said the operation is expected to cost between €6 million and €8 million and there are no plans for action against anyone responsible for it.
Annette told the Sunday World: 'I've fought this for 19 years and no-one cared. Every single week it should have been in the papers, it should have been on the radio.'
'Nobody had our back around here, not one person, no TDs, 19 years I'm fighting this.
'DCC is our landlord at the end of the day, and we should never have been living metres from an illegal landfill.
'There's a lot of people, an awful lot of people, who died around here, we can't prove that it's anything to do with the landfill. We'll never prove that,' she added.
'The people that died had lung cancer, breast cancer and DCC did not give two s***s. They just kept constantly kicking that can down the road, they didn't care.'
The turning point came when an environmental solicitor at Community Law & Mediation launched a legal bid to force the council to take action.
'We had to live around here and live beside that, which was embarrassing, disgusting — fires every night,' said Annette.
The illegal dump near Belcamp in Coolock, Dublin
Today's News in 90 Seconds - 08 June 2025
'At the end of the day, I blame DCC for the whole lot of it.
'Eventually I was taking them to court, but on the 29th of April, all of a sudden, they got started.'
Annette said the important thing now is to get moving on putting out tenders to redevelop the site and not wait another 19 years.
Residents have suggested the council should build facilities such as a sensory garden, allotments, an all-weather pitch and a playground.
'It was a long fight to get it done, let me tell you, for the people around here. People were just so depressed. To look out your door every morning or your window and look at seven stories high is a holy disgrace,' said Annette.
'It's getting done now, but it should have never happened.'
There are concerns about what might be unearthed from industrial and household waste.
Community Law & Mediation welcomed the start of work to remove the landfill, which was a 'serious health and environmental hazard.' 'We remain prepared to take further action as necessary to ensure that the site is fully and safely cleared and that the community's rights are protected,' said a spokesperson.
Asbestos has previously been found at the dump, which is estimated to hold 40,000 tons of commercial and domestic waste and is infested with rats.
The clean-up operation is expected to take up to four months.
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