Since the request for the Minister to hold a public local inquiry under section 212 of the Local Government Act 2001 into aspects of the handling of the grant of a waste permit for the creation of a borrow pit at Ballybeg in County Wicklow, including into the role of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, the matter has been the subject of communications between my Department and Wicklow County Council including some of its elected members. The correspondence included copies of minutes of meetings of the Council in January and February 2010, responses to queries on the operation of the borrow pit and the County Manager's Report of 25 January 2010 to the Council and a request from the Deputy, then a Councillor, to the Minister in 2010 to confirm whether the enquiry would proceed. Similar requests have been received from other Councillors. The issue has also been the subject of recent correspondence between members of the Council and the office of the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan.
This matter was investigated by the County Manager in 2003 and by the Local Government Audit Service (LGAS) in 2005. The LGAS report was examined by the Commissioner for Environmental Information who is also the Ombudsman. The reports and related correspondence are in the public domain, having been made available to public representatives in Wicklow. The request for an inquiry was received from Wicklow County Council following a Special Meeting on 26 January 2010. No new information or evidence was submitted with this request.
No decision has been taken in relation to the Council's request at this time.
