A ‘closed landfill’, also called a historic landfill, is a landfill site that was operated by a local authority for the recovery or disposal of waste without a waste licence on any date between 15th July 1977 and 27th March 1997. The introduction of the Waste Management Act 1996 required that municipal landfills could only operate under a waste licence issued by the Environmental Protection Agency. Closed landfills, which operated prior to the introduction of the Waste Management Act 1996 now have to be retrospectively authorised by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), via a ‘Certificate of Authorisation’ (CoA).
The aim of a CoA is to specify control and remediation measures required at a closed landfill to ensure that waste disposed or recovered in the closed landfill is not causing, or is not likely to cause, environmental pollution. These matters are provided for in the Statutory Instrument Waste Management (Certification of Historic Unlicensed Waste Disposal and Recovery Activity) Regulations 2008, and require the registering of closed landfills, carrying out of risk assessments, applying for CoA’s from the EPA, and complying with the conditions of the CoA. In order to comply with the Conditions of a CoA, significant remedial works will need to be carried out on the vast majority of these closed landfills nationally including such sites in County Monaghan. To date the vast majority of the costs associated with the authorisation and remediation of such closed landfills have been borne by the Department of Environment Climate Communication through grant assistance to local authorities so as to minimise the financial burden on individual local authorities.
Risks poses by closed landfills include the release of landfill gas or contamination of nearby surface waters or groundwaters through leachate discharges. However, these environmental risks can be mitigated by restoring the landfill through covering or ‘capping’ it with an artificial liner and soil, grassing or landscaping the finished surface and the ongoing aftercare of the site, in order to control emissions.
Monaghan County Council has 5 closed landfills within the County.
The following table summarises the current status of these sites as of January 2025.
| Site Name | Site Code | Current status |
| Tiragarvan site in Carrickmacross. | S22-02524 | Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) completed. CoA application to be lodged with EPA in early 2025. |
| Killycard site in Castleblayney. | S22-02528 | ERA completed and CoA has been granted by the EPA. Planning Application lodged with An Bord Pleanála. An Bord Pleanála decision expected in Q2 2025. |
| Killycronaghan site in Newbliss. | S22-02296 | ERA completed and CoA has been granted by the EPA. Planning approval granted by An Bord Pleanála. Monaghan County Council to appoint consultant in 2025 to progress detailed remedial design works. |
| Letterbane site at Scotch Corner | S22-02298 | Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) completed and CoA application has been lodged with the EPA. Awaiting on CoA decision to be issued by the EPA. |
| Corkeeran site in Ballybay | S22-02299 | Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) completed and CoA application has been lodged with the EPA. Awaiting on CoA decision to be issued by the EPA |
Scotch Corner Licensed Landfill Facility
Monaghan County Council previously operated a licenced landfill facility at Scotch Corner. This site accepted waste from the 1990s up until 2017. Although the landfill site is not open to the public or to waste contractors and has ceased waste acceptance, Monaghan County Council still has to operate the site in strict accordance with our waste licence (W0020-02). This licence is likely to remain active for the next 25 years at least.
Licence details and compliance records for Scotch Corner Landfill site is available to view using the following link to the EPA website:
Scotch Corner W0020 EPA Compliance Dashboard