A High Court judge has ordered that a Meath mother and son pay a fine of €6.26m to cover the cost of remediating an illegal dump on their farm.
Eileen Hendy owns 253ac farm, run by her son Fred, at Ballynakill, Rathcor, Enfield, Co Meath.
Three acres of the farm are contaminated by illegal dumping. In November last year, Trim Circuit Court heard that 70,000t of waste was dumped on the farm over a three-year period up to 2014.
The waste included asbestos, according to Meath County Council’s environmental engineer. It also included plastic, tyres, skip waste, soil, stone and mechanically treated waste.
The waste was delivered by dozens of companies, the owners of which paid between €20 and €100 per load to dump on the farm.
In a High Court judgement published on Monday, Mr Justice Richard Humphreys said that the Hendys had “done nothing effective for a three-year period” since they were previously ordered by another High Court judge in 2016 to discontinue the holding, recovery and disposal of waste on the site.
The judge said there were two ways to ensure that the land was remediated – the Hendys could remediate it, and possibly be imprisoned until they organised that, or alternatively the council could remediate the lands with some form of recourse to the respondents’ assets to do so.
“The respondents’ lands amount to approximately 253 acres, of which a total of three acres are contaminated, so a large amount of the lands are available for sale,” the judge said.
"As the respondents have squandered the opportunity to do that themselves, I am ordering that the remediation will be done on the direction of the council.”
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A High Court judge has ordered that a Meath mother and son pay a fine of €6.26m to cover the cost of remediating an illegal dump on their farm.
Eileen Hendy owns 253ac farm, run by her son Fred, at Ballynakill, Rathcor, Enfield, Co Meath.
Three acres of the farm are contaminated by illegal dumping. In November last year, Trim Circuit Court heard that 70,000t of waste was dumped on the farm over a three-year period up to 2014.
The waste included asbestos, according to Meath County Council’s environmental engineer. It also included plastic, tyres, skip waste, soil, stone and mechanically treated waste.
The waste was delivered by dozens of companies, the owners of which paid between €20 and €100 per load to dump on the farm.
In a High Court judgement published on Monday, Mr Justice Richard Humphreys said that the Hendys had “done nothing effective for a three-year period” since they were previously ordered by another High Court judge in 2016 to discontinue the holding, recovery and disposal of waste on the site.
The judge said there were two ways to ensure that the land was remediated – the Hendys could remediate it, and possibly be imprisoned until they organised that, or alternatively the council could remediate the lands with some form of recourse to the respondents’ assets to do so.
“The respondents’ lands amount to approximately 253 acres, of which a total of three acres are contaminated, so a large amount of the lands are available for sale,” the judge said.
"As the respondents have squandered the opportunity to do that themselves, I am ordering that the remediation will be done on the direction of the council.”
Read more
‘Concerning’ increase in dead animal dumping
DNA tracing to combat dead animal dumping along border
Cork farmer finds truckload of builder's rubble dumped in field
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