Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 November 2020
103. Deputy James Lawless asked the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications if additional funding is being made available through the landfill remediation programme at the landfill site at Kerdiffstown, County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35102/20]
View answerMy question inquires about the progress of the remediation of the Kerdiffstown landfill and, in particular, what additional finances may be forthcoming in relation to same.
In the year to date, funding of almost €3.4 million has been provided through the landfill remediation programme for the project at Kerdiffstown. It is expected that further funding in the region of €2 million will be drawn down by Kildare County Council by the end of this year.
Following the completion of the 2021 Estimates process last month, I expect to be in a position to allocate funding of €23.5 million to the landfill remediation programme next year to continue the remediation of environmentally-degraded, discontinued landfill sites operated by local authorities and private landfills taken into State ownership. A significant proportion of this overall allocation will be directed towards further remediation works at Kerdiffstown.
On receipt of confirmation of 2020 total funding from my Department, Kildare County Council entered into a contract for final remediation work. The contract was awarded after the completion of a successful procurement competition. Significant work has already been completed on the site in making it safe and in securing appropriate access to allow for final remediation works to be carried out. The contractor for the final works is due to mobilise on site later this month and the contract is of 54 months' duration with project completion scheduled for 2025. Funding beyond 2021 will be determined in the context of the annual Estimates process and the funding requirements of the project.
Kildare County Council has a page dedicated to project progress on its website where regular up-to-date information on Kerdiffstown Park is provided.
I thank the Minister for that positive answer and acknowledge that €23.5 million is quite a significant sum. I know that is not all for Kerdiffstown but is for general landfill remediation. The €3.4 million and extra €2 million that the Minister has committed to this year amounts to a total of €5.4 million, if I have that right.
It is worth taking a moment to reflect on the issue of Kerdiffstown landfill. This has been a long battle. The Minister probably recalls me raising it on numerous occasions during the previous Dáil with the then Ministers and at the Joint Committee for Communications, Climate Action and Environment on which the Minister and I sat. It is a good news story that started off as a very bad news story. I am sure the Minister and the House are familiar with the background. This landfill reached national attention when smoke and fumes were blooming out across the N7. That was the nadir of the whole debacle and various unauthorised developments and activities were going on at the site. It went up in smoke and the place went on fire with all sorts of toxic substances within it. That shone a negative light on the landfill.
I thank the Deputy.
Do I not have a few minutes longer? How long do I have?
The clock says the Deputy has no time but I ask him to go on.
I will not come in again to ask a supplementary question. I will leave my contribution at this. The battle over the landfill was a long one. It is a good news story that we are out the far side of it.
I will briefly mention the Kerdiffstown residents' group, the cleaner Naas group and other groups. I will also mention Kildare County Council and the people under the stewardship of Joe Boland who have brought matters to this point.
On a historical note, things go full circle. My predecessor in this role and former Deputy, the late Michael Fitzpatrick, raised this issue in 2007 with the Minister's predecessor, former Deputy John Gormley, when it was first breaking. I worked with then Deputy Fitzpatrick at that time and he pressed this issue. It is really positive to see it come full circle.
I regularly drive past the landfill on the way home and it is amazing to see the work that has gone on. It is not yet open to the public, as the Minister knows, but one can see the remedial work that has taken place if one looks through the fence or the gate. It will be a park. There will be vantage points, a path to walk around and playing fields within it. It is an ugly duckling that has become a swan and it is a credit to all involved.
It is a sad tale but I hope it is one that has a somewhat better ending, as the Deputy says. It was a quarry, dating back to the 1950s. In 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, issued a waste licence. A revised licence was issued in 2006 but the EPA then had to take court action in 2009 because there was significant odour pollution at the site. The EPA found that the site was not operating in accordance with the licensing conditions. It was effectively abandoned in 2010, when enforcement actions were being pursued, and the EPA took possession of the site in 2010. A fire broke out on the site in 2011, as the Deputy said, requiring an emergency response by the State.
That is the sad tale of why we are here. The issue is real and relates to odours and to leachate into the River Morell, which is a tributary of the Liffey. This is a shocking example of how the cost of protecting our health increases when we do not look after our local environment. The expectation is that we will be able to manage it and that, at the end of this process, we will be able to restore it safely into a multi-use public park. That will mark the end of what has been a sorry saga.
