More action to follow 'revolting' incident in Laois town

Laois County Council and Glanbia are following up on a pollution incident involving human waste in Mountmellick which a senior manager in the local authority described as “terrible” and “revolting”.

The spillage of raw sewage across the Main Street in Mountmellick saw shopfronts, footpaths and the road coated in the waste, on the busy N80 road through the town on Wednesday, January 25.

Witnesses said the waste spilled out from a truck passing through the town at the Smith's Corner junction at lunchtime .

The vehicle did not stop, and traffic continued to drive through the waste. An emergency clean-up was carried out initially by Laois County Council.

Later in the day a second clean up was completed by the company which is understood to have been involved. The street was cleared by 4pm.

Simon Walton, Laois County Council's Director of Service, oversaw the clean up and is following up on the incident.

“It was terrible, revolting, he told the Leinster Express / Laois Live this week.

He confirmed that Glanbia is also following up as it is the owner of the Country Life shop which was badly impacted by the spillage.

“Both ourselves and Glanbia expressed dissatisfaction with what happened. It was cleaned up promptly to be fair. We will be engaging with the contractor regarding our costs. There was a third party impacted, namely Glanbia.

“The important thing is that it was attended to promptly,” Mr Walton said.

Fianna Fáil county councillor, Cllr Paddy Bracken was on the scene to alert the council on the day.

He confirmed at that time that the waste was human and not animal waste as initially thought by local people, and had advised people to avoid the area.