The Glenstall Abbey protestors

Limerick Co Council are planning major landfill dump near Glenstall Abbey, and locals and monks are not too happy.

It is to be sited on Sliabh Phelim, an ancient religious site and it will leak leachate into the River Mulkere, a fine salmon river and a potential drinking water source for Limerick City.

Brother Anthony is at the forefront of the campaign. He is bitterly critical of the role of the "environmental experts" in the case, MC O'Sullivan, who provided the Environmental Impact Study.

"They tell lies," he says bluntly. One example is when they were making a presentation on the site, a key piece of information was deliberately distorted. It was a map of water sources (acquifiers), and the status of the dump location was changed from "an area of extreme vulnerability" to "an area of low vulnerability."

When the Brother pointed this mistake out to the company principal, BP O'Halloran;

"He said nothing in reply, he just blushed and scowled and said absolutely nothing."

O'Halloran is on record as saying: "I would not employ a hydrogeologist unless I was sure that they would give me the right answer."

The behaviour of these so-called experts is often ludicrous: when asked at a hearing where else they had experience in building dumps, they said they had, but wouldn't say where, saying they woudl tell the Chairman but nobody else....

"I feel a bit sorry for them," says Brother Anthony. "They haven't got a clue."

The dump location is currently owned by Coillte, the state forestry company which recently held "National Tree Week". Coillte plan to sell the land to the County Council. Brother Anthony points out that Coillte are in breach of their legal obligation to have "due regard for the environmental and amenity consequences" of their activities. (1988 Forestry Act, Section 13, subsection 1 (C)).

There are megalithic tombs about 3 miles from the dump, arranged to point towards the setting sun. The site was sacred to the goddess Eilbhe, a pre Celtic sun goddess. Legend goes that when the Milesians landed in Ireland they went first to this place, to seek counsel from the Goddess.

The site itself is planted with sitka trees, though they are growing poorly. A survey of the raised bog next to the site reveals 100 different species.

Local FF politicians are verbally opposing the plan. FG politicians are more wary: their supporters are concentrated in the Limerick suburbs, who are glad the dump won't be in their area."Some of them are just pretending to oppose it."

The protestors plan to hold a Tribunal of Inquiry, in advance of the pollution disaster that is the dump.

"We're inviting the Minister For Health, Michael Noonan, to attend or to be legally represented, or be impersonated by an actor. We're still working on it," says Brother Anthony. They also want to invite Agriculture Minister Ivan Yates, as he is a shareholder in Coillte, who are selling the land.

An alternative proposal was suggested by Raymond Greiner of Atlantic Pacific Envirotech Corp. He proposes a "state of the art" waste handling facility: unsorted waste will have metal and aluminum waste taken out by magnets, then ceramics, glass and stones will be sorted, and cellulose extracted from the biological matter. It's interesting because the process claims it will be able to totally avoid pollution.

More to follow on all this.......stay tuned