Waterford City and County Council has been told by a State auditor that it should consider targeting its Deputy Mayor’s expenses to help recoup some of the costs arising from clearing a toxic waste dump operated by the politician’s company.
According to a report by The Journal, the State auditor has suggested Waterford Council target the expenses of Deputy Mayor Declan Doocey to help recoup a €700,000 landfill bill.
The Journal reports that the Council has been criticised by the auditor, from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, for allegedly not pursuing Fine Gael Councillor Declan Doocey over the site owned by his company in in Lismore.
He was brought to the High Court by Waterford Council for allegedly storing over 5,300 tonnes of toxic waste on the land where he runs a recycling company dealing with farm plastic near his home.
He was accused of breaching environmental protection laws by the local authority under sections 57 and 58 of the Waste Management Act.
The case was settled in 2021 - without the court making a judgement against either party - and the council has since carried out works to clean up the site running to a total of €739,000.
There were also legal costs of €39,000 incurred by the council in High Court proceedings.
Deputy Mayor Doocey told The Journal that he has not paid any of the costs back to the council, and insisted he will be exonerated eventually.
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