Court orders €20,000 donation to Kilkenny Tidy Towns

Combined penalties and costs for a Kilkenny man convicted of breaching the Waste Management Act could reach a ‘six-figure’ sum, the local district court has heard.

Damian Lennon, Old Town, Ballyragget, was convicted of the offence of not holding a waste licence at a court last November, when it heard how Kilkenny County Council inspectors discovered a ‘massive stockpile of mixed waste’ on lands at Kilree, Threecastles, following a complaint from a member of the public.

A council inspector judged the volume of waste on the land to be ‘approximately 10,000 tonnes’.
The site did not have a waste facility permit and had not made any application for such a permit. It also had no EPA licence.

At the start of the November court hearing Mr Lennon had contested six counts of breaching the act, at two separate locations, in 2023. However, a change of plea from not guilty to guilty was recorded after two witnesses had given their evidence in court.

At Kilkenny District Court on Tuesday the case was finalised.
Judge Cephas Power heard that Mr Lennon has complied with an order to pay costs of €30,000, and VAT, for the council.
He has also paid out ‘close to’ €50,000 for the amelioration of the site, and paid his own legal costs.
Mr Lennon’s legal counsel highlighted that the final, total sum would be in the ‘six figures’ range.

On hearing this Judge Power ordered Mr Lennon to make a substantial charity donation of €20,000 - to be divided equally between Keep Kilkenny Beautiful and Tidy Towns Kilkenny.
He has two months to do this and if so Judge Power said he will apply the Probation of Offenders Act as during the case it was argued Mr Lennon’s business may suffer if he was to be handed down a conviction for this offence.