The sentencing of the retired director of a waste management company, who was convicted over the illegal operation of a landfill site in Co Kildare, has been put back until January after the court heard he was not in good health, with a heart problem that would require remedial work.
Tony Dean, aged 70, of Woodhaven, Milltown, Dublin, was found guilty by a jury in November of offences contrary to the Waste Management Act 1996.
He had pleaded not guilty to two charges that he, as then director of Nephin Trading Ltd disposed of or undertook the recovery of waste at a facility in Kerdiffstown, Naas, Co Kildare, otherwise than in accordance with the waste licence then in force between October 2003 to September 2006 and separately between September 2006 and November 2008.
He had also denied a third charge that he held or recovered waste in a manner likely to cause environmental pollution at the Kerdiffstown site between October 2003 and November 2008.
The jury returned guilty verdicts on all three charges against him last month.
At Dublin Circuit Criminal Court Mary Gurrie, Project Manager with the Environmental Protection Agency, agreed with prosecuting counsel Dean Kelly SC that waste in the northwest part of the facility at Kerdiffstown had reached a height of 116 metres above sea level by 2008, and that this had resulted in a number of environmental risks including the build-up of gas, leachate and odours.
50 cubic metres of leachate was being produced from the site per day over the period concerned, and was slowly making its way into the surrounding geology.
188 complaints had also been received about odours from the site at this time.
At the time, Mr Dean had been director of Nephin Trading Limited which operated the facility until it ceased to accept waste in June 2010.
In January the following year (2011) a major fire developed at the north side of the site which had effectively been abandoned.
The court heard it was not the case that the Director for Public Prosecutions laid any responsibility for that fire on Tony Dean.
The Environmental Protection Agency took control of the site from February 2011 until June 2015.
Kildare County Council was then granted a licence to remediate the site in 2019 with hopes those works will be completed by next year.
Judge Melanie Greally heard the costs of the physical work at the site had run to €61.5m with €11.5m of that cost paid by the Department of the Environment as a direct result of the fire of 2011.
Prosecuting counsel Mr Kelly said a conviction under section 10 of the 1996 Waste Management Act provided for a fine not exceeding €10m or a period of imprisonment not exceeding 10 years.
Defending counsel Barry White SC said Mr Dean had made a large investment in the Kerdiffstown site and had now lost everything.
He said he had been convicted on the basis of negligence, rather than a conscious act and he said it would be "grossly unfair" to contemplate imposing a custodial sentence on his client.
Judge Greally said it was important that there be a significant deterrent associated with this type of offence.
She said it was clearly a case the court would have to give some consideration to.
Ms Greally said Mr Dean could remain on bail and listed the case for finalisation on 30 January next year, when more evidence is expected to be heard in relation to his heart condition.
