What a dump!

The Shannon Fisheries Board and Westmeath County Council said that they were appalled to find that a peaceful fishing platform is being used as a dumping ground.The area around Slevin"s Lake - on the Castlepollard Road out of Mullingar - which was transformed into a fishing spot using EU funding back in 2003 is awaiting a clean up after it was filled with household refuse and the coating from copper wiring, which had been stripped, burned, and then dumped at the site.Larry Murphy who works for the Environment section of the council said that this latest incident was the worst he had seen so far, although the area around the quite beauty spot had been used as a dumping site before.The refuse left at the site included general household waste, cushions, bottles and cans as well as two loads of tubing from copper and brass wiring.According to Sean Gorry from Shannon Fisheries, Westmeath experiences the worst of this type of dumping compared to neighbouring Cavan.'I am mainly responsible for the area around Lough Sheelin and while we would have the odd find after a party or something we would see nothing on the scale or with the same frequency.'Concrete at the fishing spot has also been destroyed due to the high volume of heat from burning copper wiring.Westmeath County Council has said that it will be 'relentless' in finding the culprits and bringing them to task. Staff Officer for the council"s Environment Section Michael O"Reilly said that if found the perpetrators could be prosecuted under the Pollution Act which carries a much stiffer penalty than littering.'Obviously this is a remote area but it is used by those keen on angling and this recent incidence of dumping was nothing short of a disgrace,' he said.'We now have to go about organising a clean-up which will be sorted out between us and the Fisheries Board. The people who did this should not think that we won"t go after them. We have been through the rubbish with a fine tooth comb and unfortunately we didn"t find anything that would give us a clue as to who they are.'At the very least we would be going for prosecution under the Waste Management Act and if at all possible we will go after them under the pollution Act,' he said.Mr O"Reilly also appealed for anyone who has information on the illegal dumping to contact the Environment Office on 044 9341166.