‘Righting the wrong’ at Drumgill

There is still no sign of a prosecution arising from the dumping of 600 tonnes of industrial and domestic waste on Coillte forestry lands just outside Kingscourt, writes Thomas Lyons.
The incident hit the headlines last May but, as of last Friday, the culprit had yet to be identified. The waste included plastics, broken pipes, polystyrene, foam and domestic rubbish.
Coillte confirmed the dumping of industrial and domestic waste at Drumgill was the single largest incidence it has ever had.
The waste was dumped in forestry land on either side of a public road, in an isolated area, in an operation Coillte spokesperson Mick Power described as “organised with military precision”. It is estimated that it took 30 articulated trucks several days to transport all the waste to the site.
Last Friday, the forestry company arranged a tree planting ceremony to symbolise “a new beginning” for Cavan’s Drumgill Forest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above: Mark National Tree Day a horse chestnut tree was planted in the woods at Barley Hill. The tree was grown from a chestnut off a large tree, which was in Dun an Rí Forest Park. Photo (from left): children, from local schools, Conor English (Coillte) Fred Leahy, Pat O’Rourke (Coillte) Brendan O’Reilly, Amanda Ramsay and Larry Carthy.

Contractor

Coillte engaged a contractor, Pada Waste, who took a week to dispose of the waste appropriately. They are now urging the public to understand the important role trees play in protecting our natural environment.
Conor English, Coillte Midlands estates manager for Coillte Forest, who attended the planting ceremony said: “The ceremony marked a new beginning for Drumgill Forest, which is one of Cavan’s most beloved forests. This is our way of ‘righting the wrong’ that was done here six months ago, something I hope we never see again.”
The Horse Chestnut Tree used in the ceremony was a sapling from a famous tree that blew down in the neighbouring Dún na Rí Forest Park. It was grown from a seed collected by Fred Leahy, a former Coillte employee, and local resident and member of the Dún na Rí Forest Park Grand Gardens Restoration Group. 
The Coillte Midlands estates manager said that, despite evidence of named individuals in the dumped rubbish, the investigation appears to have stalled: “We first came across it in April of this year. We got to work with Meath County Council, even though it's in both Cavan and Meath, they took charge as the waste enforcement authority.
“They put a lot of resources into it, along with the gardaí, for the first three weeks, but it doesn't seem like anything has come of that. They took a lot of evidence. They took at least a day on the site before we got rid of the rubbish. They just could not trace it back to anything concrete.”
The scale of the incident is part of the difficulty: “Walking around it, you could pick up bits of documentation... with a name and address, but they traced it back to the people who told how they got rid of it. It appears there were a couple of intermediaries working between the direct waste disposal company and the final resting place in Drumgill.”
Meath County Council is investigating a similar incident in Drumconrath. 

Cost of clean-up

The cost to Coillte has been quite high: “We are in the process of paying for the clean up now. It was put to tender and the invoice was fairly substantial. It's well over €50,000. This was a particularly significant incident, but littering in forestry is something we come across every day.”
The nature of the resource in Cavan tends to deter fly tippers: “From a recreational point of view, the forestry usage in Cavan is quite high. That's good for us because it means that people are there and that deters people from dumping."
However, rural areas can attract fly tipping.
Mr English finally added: “We may not have found the perpetrators, but we are hopeful the message is getting across that illegal dumping of any kind will not be tolerated.”
Members of the public are urged to report illegal dumping cases to the Garda, local authorities, or to contact Coillte via its confidential forest security hotline on 0818 776 300.