€113,000 SPENT ON POLLUTION THREATS… FURTHER DUMPING OF DIESEL SLUDGE NEAR BORDER

DESPITE continued surveillance by gardai and revenue units along the Monaghan/Armagh border, in an ongoing bid to thwart the continued laundering of diesel by racketeers, a further consignment of diesel sludge was dumped last week on a lay-by along the main Castleblayney/Dundalk Road, near the South Armagh border in Co. Monaghan.

Following the huge clearance operation, Monaghan County Council revealed   that a whopping €113,000 has already been spent by the Council in cleaning up dumped diesel-wash sludge, in the first four months of this year.

Six large cubes of sludge were discovered on Wednesday of last week, dumped at Maghernakill, within 100 metres of a tributary of the River Fane, which is a source of the water supply to a number of families in South Monaghan and North Louth.

A Monaghan county council spokesman said: “There was some minor leakage from one   container, which was confined to a tarmac area, but luckily, there was no significant environment impact on this occasion”.

It is estimated almost €350,000 euro was spent on the clean-up ….