The Circuit Court has overturned a District Court ruling that had allowed AWD Waste Solutions Limited to appeal the refusal of its application for a waste collection permit.
Judge Simon McAleese delivered the judgment on 14 October 2024 in the Midland Circuit, County of Offaly. The appeal was brought by Offaly County Council, acting as the National Waste Collection Permit Office (NWCPO), against the District Court’s decision in AWD’s favour.
The NWCPO refused AWD’s application in June 2021, saying the company could not be considered a fit and proper person to hold a permit because its directors, Shane Byrne and William Byrne, had convictions for waste offences. The convictions were imposed at Bray District Court on 19 July 2013. Each director had pleaded guilty and received a €500 fine.
AWD argued that the convictions were spent under the Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions and Certain Disclosures) Act 2016 and should not have been considered. Its appeal succeeded in the District Court in April 2022. The NWCPO then appealed that ruling to the Circuit Court.
Judge McAleese concluded that the 2016 Act did not require the NWCPO to disregard the convictions in deciding AWD’s application. He noted that the convictions were already known to the office and had also been disclosed in the application. The judgment says the Act contains no mechanism requiring convictions to be disregarded in those circumstances.
The judge also discussed the statutory disclosure requirements for permit applications and the limits the 2016 Act places on non-disclosure of spent convictions. He referred to a 2024 High Court judgment concerning waste permits, while distinguishing its facts from AWD’s case. Some of his discussion of disclosure obligations was expressly described as technically obiter, rather than necessary to decide AWD’s central argument.
The Circuit Court allowed the NWCPO’s appeal and ordered that the District Court’s ruling be overturned. The judgment does not grant AWD a permit; it overturns the District Court decision that had succeeded on AWD’s appeal against the refusal.