{"id":156116,"date":"2025-11-23T23:09:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T23:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/156116\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T23:09:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T23:09:08","slug":"cork-e50m-superdump-never-used-in-16-years-should-be-sold-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/156116\/","title":{"rendered":"Cork \u20ac50m superdump never used in 16 years ‘should be sold off’"},"content":{"rendered":"

That is according to Cork county councillors, who claimed the superdump-that-never-was at Bottlehill is a massive financial millstone around the local authority\u2019s neck.<\/p>\n

The superdump, 23km north of Cork City, was initially supposed to open for waste in 2009<\/a>, but this was stalled for two years.<\/p>\n

In 2011, councillors were told it would not be economically viable to open it.<\/p>\n

It was supposed to be one of the biggest landfills in the country, capable of taking 217,000 tonnes of waste per year over a 20-year period.<\/p>\n

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB<\/a><\/p>\n

It has now been revealed that it is costing the local authority an additional \u20ac1.9m in loan repayments annually, and a further \u20ac40,000 for security at the site.<\/p>\n

150,000 tonne annual minimum\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was said 14 years ago that there was severe competition from landfills in other counties, and to make Bottlehill financially viable, it would have to take in a minimum of 150,000 tonnes of waste per year.<\/p>\n

At the time, Cork County Council said it would have to charge a minimum entry fee per vehicle of \u20ac50, whereas other landfills were charging an average of \u20ac20-\u20ac30 per visit.<\/p>\n

The facility took five years to construct, but during that time, the government set out new criteria to divert waste away from landfills, primarily through recycling and incineration.<\/p>\n

Indaver proposal did not materialise<\/p>\n

In 2016, it was suggested that 40,000 tonnes of residual ash from Indaver\u2019s proposed incinerator in Ringaskiddy could be buried there, which would provide the council with some income.<\/p>\n

This did not materialise, but Indaver has recently reapplied for planning permission for a Ringaskiddy incinerator<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The same year, the council\u2019s environment directorate also wanted to earmark a proportion of the site for a company specialising in wind and solar energy. However, that also failed to materialise.<\/p>\n

Michael Hegarty, the Fine Gael leader on the council, has demanded that council management sell off the site.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a white elephant, and we should dispose of it immediately. We need to cut our losses and get out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Labour councillors Cathal Rasmussen and Ronan Sheehan supported his call, as did the leader of Independent Ireland on the council, Danny Collins.<\/p>\n

Council chief executive Moira Murrell said her officials are \u201cdeveloping some proposals for it, but they have to go through a process”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"That is according to Cork county councillors, who claimed the superdump-that-never-was at Bottlehill is a massive financial millstone…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1153,79,61,60,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-156116","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-sustainability","9":"tag-cork-news","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}