Brazen dumpers discard caravan full of rubbish on the site of massive clean-up
A carvan was pushed into Ellis’s Yard on Cork’s Northside just as work was coming to an end on the clean up. Picture Dan Linehan
Rob McNamara
DEFIANT dumpers have left a caravan filled with rubbish at an illegal tip which is currently being cleaned up at a cost of €53,000 to the taxpayer.
Contractors Loftus of Cork has cleared almost 200,000 kilos of rubbish and 4,500 kilos of asbestos from Ellis’s Yard in Ballyvolane — which has been a target for dumping for decades — in the last fortnight and plan to leave the site this week before City Hall takes over to secure the yard with fencing and other security measures.
A carvan was pushed into Ellis’s Yard on Cork’s Northside just as work was coming to an end on the clean up. Picture Dan Linehan
However, under the cover of darkness, dumpers rolled an old caravan filled with waste down a hill on the southern side of the large site.
Councillor Ken O’Flynn said he is disgusted by what he described as a “last show of defiance” from fly-tippers and said a solution for the site has to be found as soon as possible to stop the dumping for good.
“Bags of rubbish have been left in the caravan, I’ve been told. This is two fingers up to Cork City Council and the residents of Ballyvolane.
“Cork City Council officials are going through the bags of domestic waste and prosecutions will follow and we will be doing everything we can to prevent further dumping. We will be securing the site. It’s time for a very heavy-handed approach.
“Enough is enough. We cannot spend any more and waste any more taxpayers’ money cleaning up after people who have no respect.
“There have already been expressions of interest from various organisations that are interested in the site. We must now strike while the iron is hot and there is momentum behind this to find a solution for the site and whether it is the option for social housing or leasing out to community or sports organisation, this needs to be stopped right now.
Work on Ellis’s Yard on Cork’s Northside. Picture Dan Linehan
“The contractors have done an amazing clean-up job with a tremendous amount of work. It’s ridiculous that we are spending €53,000 here and additional money on fencing it off and there is dumping while the contractors are still working on site,” he added.
The local authority is believed to have spent in the region of €200,000 cleaning up the site in the last decade. Several fires have also occurred at the site with fire crews visiting Ellis’s Yard 90 times last year.
Cork City Council workers visited the site this week and removed a number of rubbish bags in an attempt to find clues that may lead to prosecutions.
