Contractors begin removing tonnes of waste from Ellis’s Yard site in Ballyvolane this morning
has welcomed the clean-up operation of the site at Ellis’s Yard which has seen all sorts of illegal dumping take place over the last two decades or so with everything from domestic waste, builder’s rubble, electrical items, furniture and tyres being dumped at the site.
“We welcome the fact that Cork City Council has finally started on this clean up that we have been campaigning for years to happen - from talking to people involved in the work, it’s going to take a week to clean up the site but it’s long overdue,” said Ms Murphy.and the Department of the Environment as well as Cork City Council were present this morning when contract staff using heavy machinery and a huge skip lorry began tackling the waste which covers a site almost the size of a GAA pitch.
“This is a serious environmental issue and it’s been a long time coming but it looks as if the authorities are finally taking their responsibilities seriously so we welcome that - they had pest control people in there as well which is welcome given the rats and flies that were down there,” she said. Ms Murphy said that she would now be writing to Cork City Council to see if they would put in air quality monitors at the site as she and others have expressed concern about toxic fumes being released from the site following over 90 fires there last year.
It’s understood that Cork City Council plans to improve security at the site with the erection of further fencing as well as the installation of CCTV cameras to deter anyone from fly-tipping or other dumping given the site’s proximity the nearby North Ring Road.