March meeting 2013

Chairperson

• Michael Hehir, Local Resident

Committee members

• Alan Foudy, Cloonanaha NS
• Dominic Keating, Inagh Development Ltd.
• John Longe, Local Resident
• Patrick O'Halloran, Local Resident
• Perry Long, Local Resident
• Sheila Mc Tigue, Mike Mc Tigue Community Centre
• Tom Long, Local Resident 

Council officials

• Maeve Ryan
• James Keane, Council Official
• Frances Mc Namara

Absent

• Paul Moroney (A)
• Martin Queally, Local Resident
• Cllrs Joe Arkins, Michael Hillery, Richard Nagle, Michael Kelly and Bill Slattery Clare County Council.

Main points

Minutes of meeting held on the 5th December 2012

• Proposed by Patrick O'Halloran
• Seconded by Sheila McTigue

Matters arising from minutes

Tom Long asked if willow trees could be grown at the Central Waste Management Facility as previously discussed. Maeve Ryan advised that this proposal is not being considered at present as the site is not ideal for planting, due to the gas pipes on the cells etc. The proposal had been raised with the EPA by the company concerned but no further progress has been made on it. 

Tom Long asked how much the landfill was supposed to "fall" in the next 10 years. Maeve Ryan advised that new cells would not be expected to settle very much as they were heavily compacted. Tom Long asked when the landfill was going to be sealed. Maeve Ryan advised that the side slopes are completely sealed with an LDPE liner which has been welded and sealed to the cell and that application of a clay cap on the liner will be done in the future when a final decision is made on the site. The manufacturers of the liner have stated that it can safely be left without clay cover.

Odour management

Maeve Ryan informed the meeting that Odour Monitoring Ireland were on site in January 2013 and detected no odours or problems of any description. Perry Long said that occasionally she got a waste odour particularly on Saturdays but did not think it was worthwhile contacting the office as the facility was closed until Tuesday mornings. Maeve Ryan stated that the waste is removed twice per week and when stored on site it is completely sealed and that odour patrols were continuing on a daily basis and that no odours had been detected in the recent past.

John Longe demanded an explanation as to why there was still an odour from the facility. He stated that there was more concern about frogspawn that there was about local residents. Maeve Ryan addressed the issues raised by Mr. Longe, reiterating the findings of the OMI Report and said that the odour patrol and employees at the site had not detected odours either on site or offsite.

Correspondence

Maeve Ryan informed the meeting of a new requirement by the EPA that all correspondence submitted to them must be in electronic format. Hard copies of all data submitted will still remain on the public files.

Perry Long queried the significance of the correspondence dated the 18th December 2012 regarding the leachate pump. Maeve Ryan advised that this did not have any impact on the site; however, the EPA had to be notified that an incident had occurred.

Any other business

Sheila McTigue asked if there was any possibility that waste generated from the fracking industry could be deposited at the Central Waste Management Facility. Maeve Ryan replied that this would be extremely unlikely.

Sheila McTigue also queried the volume of leachate contained in a leachate tank. Maeve Ryan that there was just under one million litres contained in the site tank and that normally five loads are removed from site per week.

Date for next meeting

As Paul Moroney was unable to attend the meeting it was agreed that the Annual General Meeting would take place at the next meeting scheduled for the 5th June 2013. The meeting concluded at 7:25 p.m.