The Department of Health has said it would be very surprised if any of the waste illegally dumped in Wicklow was collected from publicly funded hospitals. An illegal dump containing potentially hazardous clinical waste and sensitive documents was found in the Glen of Imaal last Tuesday.
Public hospitals use the services of a licenced contractor who processes and treats waste before it is legally buried in a commercial landfill site.
Wicklow County Council said their officials are urgently preparing legal action against the people believed responsible for the dump. It has carried out an urgent risk assessment of the site, which has been closed to prevent public access. The Council will now assess the site in order to remove the waste. It is understood that the dump is close to a water supply.
Preliminary council investigations have indicated the presence of potentially hazardous waste, which is a cause of serious concern. In a statement, the council said that urgent legal action is necessary in order to ensure that any hazard is made safe by those responsible for the unauthorised dumping.
Fine Gael and the Labour Party have both called for an inquiry into the incident. Fine Gael's Spokesman for Health said that he intends to question the Minister for Health and Children. Gay Mitchell said that the law says this type of waste should be incinerated. He said that the Minister has questions to answer as to how this happened and what plans he has to prevent a recurrence.
Labour's Liz McManus said that an inquiry was needed. She said that it was a very serious matter that potentially bio-hazardous material could be dumped illegally in a field in Wicklow.
