Carlow bin company, Ray Whelan Ltd admits tachograph breaches and faces work permit hearing in January
Ray Whelan Ltd waste management truck
Carlow waste management and skip hire company Ray Whelan Ltd came before Carlow district court last week over the alleged employment of 13 non-national workers without work permits.
The company’s solicitor told the court that “plea proposals are on the table”, adding that “in our view, three workers certainly did [have permits]”. The solicitor said they were optimistic that some of the charges might be struck out as a result.
The full facts of the case, which was brought by the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, will be heard in court on 7 January 2027.
The company was back before the court later that day on driver compliance matters relating to the tachograph download rule.
There were seven summonses, dating from between April and August 2026, in which a company vehicle was stopped and found not to have a correct and functioning “driver card”, used for downloading tachograph information. Three of these were struck out by the State, and a guilty plea was entered on four matters across three separate occasions.
The court heard that on 12 May 2026, on the Staplestown Road in Carlow, gardaí inspected a stationary vehicle owned by the company and found that a tachograph download had not been carried out since July 2024.
The company apologised and said it had not been aware of this.
On the same date and at the same location, another vehicle was found not to have been downloaded since July 2025.
In mitigation, the company’s solicitor said Ray Whelan Ltd was a well-established business that had been operating for 48 years and employed 130 staff.
“A negotiated plea was reached this morning,” he said. “My client isn’t trying to shirk responsibility but the employee who was supposed to be handling this wasn’t aware.” It was agreed that €1,800 plus costs would be paid to the prosecution, the Road Safety Authority.
