Eight quarries in Carlow recommended for 'enforcement action' after inspections

Carlow's local authority has completed a review of the Quarry Register to update environmental monitoring requirements at facilities in the Dolmen County. 

There are currently approximately 40 quarries on the register of which 13 are active. 

The Council's environment staff carried out the review and identified eight facilities where "enforcement action" was recommended to the Planning section of the local authority. 

It comes after an RTÉ Investigates programme found over 150 quarries across the country are unauthorised out of 1,100 active quarries in Ireland. 

Over six months RTÉ Investigates has looked at quarries across the country including Donegal, Kildare, Galway, Meath, Wexford and Dublin.

RTÉ Investigates - Between a Rock and a Hard Place - looked at how some operators are able to challenge the system of regulation for quarries, blasting without planning permission, and digging into the landscape of rural Ireland, sparking angry protests.
 
Permission for quarries is given or refused on a number of grounds including how much environmental damage they're likely to cause. But RTÉ Investigates has found that the system is full of loopholes, delays and grey areas. 
 
The programme showed how even when a quarry is deemed to be unauthorised and has been served with enforcement notices it doesn’t mean they can’t continue operating.