Galway farmers fight off plans for "super-dump"

A group of 19 farmers today began a legal action to prevent Galway County Council locating a "super-dump" on their lands in the Kilreakle area of the county. The Council served notice on landowners that it intended to carry out tests on the lands to establish if they were suitable for a waste disposal site. But at Loughrea District Court this morning, the landowners lodged an appeal against the Council's application, which was made under the 1996 Waste Management Act. Judge Joseph Mangan was told that it would take at least two days to deal with the issues raised, and the case was adjourned until July 12th. In a separate development this afternoon, the farmers agreed to allow a council archaeologist to enter lands to investigate the site. Last month, the anti dump action group claimed that previously unknown archaeological finds have been discovered on the proposed superdump site. The Kilreakle site is one of three which the County Council has designated as a possible location for the county's new super dump. The others are at New Inn and Newbridge.