Laois Gardaí alerted over "commercial dumping " in private forest

Laois Gardaí have been alerted over a case of largescale garden waste dumped in a private forest.

The culprits had to come in heavy machinery and cut through bolts and saw through a barrier to gain access to a private forest road.

They then dumped huge piles of what the annoyed landowner describes as contaminated waste.

Huge piles of mature Leyandii trees, including their stumps, mixed with broken concrete fence posts, wire and plastic were dumped on the forest land which is in Concourse, between Portlaoise and Mountrath.

The dumpers would have used big machinery including a chainsaw, a digger and large trailer to carry out the job.

The incident took place some time between April 10 and 20, the landowner told the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

He said he is "extremely annoyed" at the breaking and entering of his land.

"It's illegal to break and enter. They cut through my forest barrier and dumped six loads of Leylandii trees and stumps, rocks, stones, grit, concrete bollards from a post and rail fence, chain link fencing and polythene.

"Someone somewhere is very proud of their garden now. It looks like a site or garden clearance was done. Someone paid good money to clear this, I'm sure they were acting on good faith. But the people who dumped it committed the crime of breaking and entering to save themselves the cost of bringing it to landfill. 

"It's bigger than fly tipping of green waste. It's commercial dumping of big contaminated stuff. 

"I have reported it to the Gardaí for criminal damage. I am going to install CCTV," the forest owner said.

Below: a sawn through bolt at the gate.

He will have to cover the cost himself to bring the contaminated waste to landfill.

There are other repercussions, for the environment.

"We are right beside a river that feeds into The Nore, a Special Area of Conservation. Our forest licence is based on protecting the environment. It is a fire risk too, and it could lead to more dumping. I'm paying big insurance premiums for fire as well. I'm not sure if it would even be covered," the landowner said.

Laois is currently under a Condition Orange warning for fires, with all outdoor fires prohibited, by the Department of Agriculture. Read more below.

Condition Orange fire warning for Laois

He said dumping is a problem in the area, particularly in Cloncourse Bog at the end of the lane, owned by Bord na Móna.

"There was a pile of carpets and garden rubbish dumped and burnt there in recent days.

"I've had issues over the last 10 years. I've contacted the litter warden before. I had rubbish dumped like big children's toys, sofas, mattresses. But this is the biggest scale I've ever seen, in volume," he said.

He is asking anybody with information to get in touch. 

"I ask anybody who knows anything to please contact the Gardaí. A lot of people use the lane to the woods as it is also the lane to Cloncourse bog where people walk and have turbery rights to cut turf. Somebody somewhere knows where this came from," the landowner said.