A SCRAP metal dealer who inherited a family business in Leap and ran it for years without a licence has been fined €500.

John Doolan (53), of Galley Head, Castlefreke, cleared hundreds of tonnes of metal from his scrapyard after council officers found his business did not comply with waste management laws and environmental guidelines.

Mr Doolan appeared in court charged with not having a waste licence, for polluting the environment while holding, transporting, recovering or disposing waste, for collecting waste for profit or reward and for burning waste causing adverse effects on the environment and human health.

On a visit to the site at Keamnabricka, Leap, on February 19th last, council officers discovered ‘volumes of waste’, including scrap metal and vehicles, batteries and electrical waste, Skibbereen District Court heard.

The business was operating within the law when Mr Doolan inherited it from his father in 2009, but changes in laws and environmental rules meant it had not been legal for many years.

The case was brought before the court by Cork County Council.

George Salter, of its Environment Directorate, gave evidence, saying the council discovered in 2024 that the scrapyard was unlicensed.

An investigation was launched, which included taking aerial photos and a number of site visits, Mr Salter said.

He told the court that Mr Doolan had been very cooperative and had agreed to remove several hundred tons of scrap metal from his scrapyard in the wake of the investigation.

Defence solicitor Colette McCarthy said her client had made every effort to cooperate and had done ‘the best he possibly could in the circumstances’.

Patricia Murphy, on behalf of Cork County Council, said in her experience scrap metal from similar sites very rarely gets removed.

‘We have to give credit where credit is due,’ she said.  Ms McCarthy said her client had difficulties with people dropping off waste and rubbish at the site when he was not there. She said he had worked as an agricultural contractor for 30 years but had to stop that work for health reasons.

Mr Doolan had paid €1,200 towards Cork County Council’s costs and had no previous convictions, the court heard.

Judge Joanne Carroll said that this was a very serious matter and noted that Mr Doolan had been cooperative from the very beginning and had contributed a considerable amount of money to the council’s efforts.

The judge added that his business had been fully legal in the past but that it was not now.

Judge Carroll fined Mr Doolan €300 for collecting waste for profit or reward and €200 for disposing of waste without a licence, with four months to pay the local authority on both.

The judge struck out the charge of polluting the environment while holding, transporting, recovering or disposing waste and also the charge for burning waste causing adverse effects on the environment and human health.

Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme.