A waste disposal company and its director have been fined €60,000 for illegal dumping at sites in Co Wicklow in 2001.
Dublin Waste and Louis Moriarty had pleaded guilty to dumping lorry loads of waste, including highly infectious clinical waste, in Coolnamadra and at Whitestown, Baltinglass, on dates in 2001.
Judge Tony Hunt said he had to take into account that Mr Moriarty had paid €1.35m to remediate the site in Coolnamdra, that he was the only person who tried to remedy the situation from the start and also the way others were dealt with through the courts.
Over several months in 2001, Moriarty dumped 300 lorry loads of waste in a sand and gravel pit in Whitestown.
It included domestic, commercial, construction and demolition waste and some hospital waste. He also dumped 350 tonnes of waste on agricultural land in Coolnamadra.
The hospital waste included blood-stained swabs, theatre waste, syringes, blood veils and scalpels.
By dumping it illegally, Moriarty had saved himself up to €2,000 per truck load.
The sentencing of Moriarty brings to an end a garda investigation, involving the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which began nine years ago and involved investigating six illegal dumps.
It has resulted in the prosecution and sentencing of three waste operators, two truck drivers and two landowners.
