The Circuit Civil Court has reversed the District Court’s ruling in favour of AWD Waste Solutions, a company co-directed by Irish and Lions rugby player Shane Byrne and his father William. Previously, the company had won an appeal at the District Court against the refusal of a waste collection permit by Offaly County Council, who opted against giving a waste permit, stating AWD as an unfit and inadequate entity due to past convictions against the Byrnes as AWD’s executives for violations of the Waste Management Act.
In the successful District Court appeal, the Byrnes argued that the council should have ignored their historical convictions, seeing that they were spent. Subsequently, Midland Circuit’s Judge Simon McAleese announced that the refusal was justified as Shane Byrne and William Byrne, AWD’s executives, had not satisfied the ‘fit and proper’ criteria due to their conviction for Waste Management Act violations at Killacloran, Aughrim in 2012.
Following their permit refusal, AWD appealed to the District Court, arguing that their previous convictions should not have been considered under the Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions and Certain Disclosures) Act when determining the company’s permit application. However, Judge McAleese voided AWD’s District Court victory, citing the absence of any regulations within the Waste Management Act that consider spent convictions void in such cases.