Oxigen Environmental Ltd were last week prosecuted and fined €1,000 at Dundalk District Court.
The penalty for the waste company came about following an EPA investigation launched last year following complaints about offensive odours in the vicinity of Oxigen’s Coes Road facility.
Residents from the likes of Bay Estate, Hyde Park, Belfry Gardens and Meadow Grove had all complained about the issue with Cllr Martin Bellew, who lives in the area, telling a meeting of Dundalk Town Council last year that people attending last October’s St Gerard’s Novena in St Joseph’s Redemptorist Church had to run to their cars after one of the Masses because of how strong the smell was.
The company and its director Aidan Doyle pleaded guilty to a summons under the Waste Management Act, which related to October 24th 2012.
The court was told the smell coming from the plant was caused by the stockpiling of brown-bin waste in a building at the plant, with the odours breaching the terms of Oxigen’s licence from the EPA.
An inspector visited the site on numerous occasions recently and found that the problem had now been resolved.
According to LMFM, Oxigen’s barrister told the court that the Coes Road facility was now a transfer unit, where roadside collectors unload and the waste is moved offsite. He added there are plans to block up some of the doors permanently.
The court was also told that Oxigen is a big employer in the area with around 100 of its 400-strong workforce in Dundalk.
After hearing the company had paid the EPA’s legal and inspection costs of €9,000, Judge Flann Brennan gave Aidan Doyle the benefit of the Probation Act and fined Oxigen €1,000.
