Govt has stacked the cards in favour of Poolbeg incinerator
The Green Party has reacted strongly to news today that Dublin City Council is to seek approval from An Bord Pleanála and the Environmental Protection Agency to build a waste incinerator at Poolbeg.
Green Party Chairman John Gormley TD says the Government has ’stacked the cards’ in favour of Dublin City Council’s application for permission to build the massive incinerator.
“The Government is clearly backing this incinerator and the processes it has put in place stack the cards in favour of it securing approval. Minister for the Environment Dick Roche TD has confirmed that this incinerator is compatible with Government policy.
“We have seen that an incinerator in Ringaskiddy secured approval against the recommendation of An Bord Pleanála’s own inspector, on the basis that it was in line with ‘Government policy’.
“We will continue the fight against the incinerator through all stages of the planning process, but people must be aware that if this incinerator is built it will be as a direct result of the waste policies pursued by this Government.
“Michael McDowell and other members of the Government parties locally have said they are opposed to the incinerator. Minister McDowell even promised to stop the incinerator as a central plank of his 2002 election campaign.
“Since being elected, the Minister has done nothing to prevent the incinerator project reaching this stage. In late 2005 we heard not a squeak of protest from Minister McDowell as his colleague Minister Roche granted approval to Dublin City Council to enter into a public-private partnership with Elsam Ireland to design, build, operate, maintain and finance the incinerator. Just this month, when the Green Party introduced a motion in Dáil Éireann to stop the incinerator, Minister McDowell didn’t even show up to vote.”
Deputy Gormley concluded by saying: “It is ironic that Dublin City Council has published these notices on the third anniversary of the official opening of the Ringsend Wastewater Treatment Plant. Given the Council’s failure to deal with the odour problem at this plant, how are the local community supposed to have confidence in this incinerator, which will be the length of Croke Park and the height of Liberty Hall?”
May 16th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
At long last someone has grasped the idea that it is the Public who will benefit as the Paymaster for the Dublin Waste Master Plan proposals.
It is about time that the Public and the Paymasters for the Dublin Waste Treatment programme were told outright that the proposal offered at the time of the strategy writing was founded on outdated assumptions.
Now we have a better option and that is to convert the residual waste to a valuable fuel for motorists and a substitute for petrol namely ethanol.
There’ll be no gases emitted as the process is completely enclosed and thus No Chimneys and No Smoke and No Toxic Cancerous Gases emitted. All the products within the waste will either be collected [through recycling] or converted to saleable products the largest of which in terms of volume and value would be ethanol.
But nicely and even more to the point this fuel is made from waste products and not food crops. So here you have two benefits: treating waste in an environmentally and economical way, and making a valuable fuel in the process which would assist in taking the Country out of dependence on fossil fuels?
The same would equally be for Galway, the Midlands and elsewhere in Ireland be it the Republic or Northern Ireland or indeed the UK or World-Wide. But the benefits can be even better for Ireland as it would signal a real move to Green Credentials. Surly this must be an Election issue in Ireland? Didn’t the Minister for the Environment once claim…Incineration not whilst I am in Power?
Now raise it in the Election as a major issue. It is the only way to save the Public’s Taxes.