December meeting 2012

Chairperson

• Michael Hehir, Local Resident

Committee members

• Alan Foudy, Cloonanaha NS
• Dominic Keating, Inagh Development Ltd.
• Martin Queally, Local Resident
• Perry Long, Local Resident
• Sheila Mc Tigue, Mike Mc Tigue Community Centre

Council officials

• Paul Moroney
• Maeve Ryan
• Frances Mc Namara

Absent

• John Longe, Local Resident (A)
• Patrick O’Halloran, Local Resident
• Tom Long, Local Resident  (A)
• James Keane, Council Official (A)
• Cllrs Joe Arkins, Michael Hillery, Richard Nagle, Michael Kelly & Bill Slattery Clare County Council.

Main points

Minutes of meeting held on the 3rd October 2012

• Proposed by Dominic Keating
• Seconded by Martin Queally

Matters arising from minutes

No matters arising from minutes of previous meeting.

Odour management

Martin Queally said he had not got an odour from the facility in recent times. Perry Long said that the odour was there intermittently, but not as bad as on previous occasions. Maeve Ryan informed the meeting  that Odour Monitoring Ireland had carried out a survey of  the site last August and had given it a "clean bill of health" except for one location behind the cell 13 riser, which was remediated within  a couple of days of the survey. She advised that no problems had been detected since and that the flare was not down on any occasion recently. Perry Long asked about the cover on the cells. Maeve Ryan advised that the side slopes were completely sealed  with an LDP liner which was welded and sealed to the cell. Perry Long queried how long this cover would last. Paul Moroney replied that in theory this should last for up to 20 years however it would weaken after approximately 25 years. He said that it was not the intention of Clare County Council to leave it this for this length of time. He advised that the site would have been designed differently if there was not an initial plan to develop Phase 4; however the Council would await the decision of the EPA Licence review which will more than likely occur in early 2015.

Martin Queally asked if there was any development with the planting of willow trees at the facility as previously discussed. Paul Moroney advised that the Council was not pursuing this option as there was a concern regarding existing infrastructure and that harvesting the trees would not be practical. He said that the gas and leachate management at the facility is taking priority at present.

Perry Long asked if any further expressions of interest were received regarding taking over the facility and running it as a private entity. Paul Moroney said that while a number of expressions of interest had been received by Clare County Council in the past that no approaches had been made to the Council in the last 18 months. Mr Moroney advised that this was not a policy option as the recommendation to operate the facility in private ownership had not been approved by Councillors.

Correspondence

There were no queries regarding any correspondence sent to or received from the EPA.

Any other business

Perry Long asked if Joe Hunter had carried out any inspections of the facility recently to which Maeve Ryan replied that he had visited the site in July.

Paul Moroney advised the meeting that the process to review the terms of reference of the Community Fund had commenced. He said that Catherine Dalton previous Chair of the Evaluation Panel had agreed to assist in the process. Perry Long asked if it would be possible to see the terms of reference before they would be adopted by Council. Paul Moroney advised that any amendment to the guidelines would go before Ennistymon Area Meeting in advance.

Date for next meeting

The date for the next meeting is the 6th March 2013. The meeting concluded at 7:25 p.m.

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