DONEGAL County Council are not ruling out the possibility of developing a landfill site at Meenaboll, it has emerged this week.

At Monday's monthly meeting of Donegal County Council, officials came under attack from a number of Councillors who accused them of being "underhand" and "wasting public money" in relation to the landfill site at Meenaboll.

Meenaboll, on the outskirts of Fintown, hit the headlines last year when a concerned group of residents began to protest at the siting of the landfill in that location.

The case was then referred to An Bord Pleanala who overturned the Council's decision to grant planning for the landfill.

Mayor of Donegal, Enda Bonner said the public are of the impression that the council wre misleading them Cllr Padraig Mac Lochlainn, who had planned said the Council's Executive had wasted almost half-a-million euro on pursuing this landfill site and have ridden roughshod over the opinions of residents living in the area."

"The Council Executive have also implied in their letter to An Bord Pleanala, for reasons best known to themselves, that they have the backing of the elected members.

"A single line reference noting Meenaboll's inclusion in the County Development Plan gives the impression that it has our support. I can certainly say, as far as Sinn Fein are concerned, we are totally opposed to a landfill site at Meenaboll."

Cllr Bonner called for Director of Service with the Water Environment and Emergency Department, Jim Holohan, to clarify the position to the public.

"The decision taken by An Bord Pleanala was unfortunate and there were a number of things wrong with the way the Board handled it. We, the Council, then had to find the best way forward from their decision and we took technical and legal advice at senior level.

"We were told that the one small window we had was to write to An Bord Pleanala requesting a scoping report. This was done in full discussion with the elected members," explained Mr Holohan.

According to Mr Holohan, An Bord Pleanala are obliged to respond to the Council's request under Article 17 of planning regulations.

"The purpose of this exercise, which does not cost anything, is to avoid unnecessary expense on site investigation and planning for a future landfill as required under the Council's Waste Management Plan 2006 - 2010."

"The Council, however, have not given a definitive answer as to whether or not they intend to press ahead with the creation of a landfill site at Meenaboll, stating only that: "No further action will be taken until An Bord Pleanala reverts to the Council with their written decision. And nothing is being ruled out until we have received this."

"Once we have this we can make clearer what we intend to do, be it at Meenaboll or somewhere else. At the end of the day, however, it will be entirely a matter for the members to decide." he concluded.