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No need for incinerator

Issued : Thursday 11 October, 2007

Ruairi Quinn, TD has called on the Minister for Environment and Local Government, John Gormley to call a halt to the proposed construction of the Poolbeg incinerator, as Ireland is set to reach its incinerator quota by his own admission.

Deputy Quinn said: "Minister Gormley announced that Ireland only needs two incinerators instead of the eight proposed which are needed to incinerate 400,000 tonnes of waste by 2016. Since two incinerators in Co. Cork and Co. Meath have already had their planning process approved, the Poolbeg incinerator is no longer necessary. Not only that, the proposed Poolbeg incinerator is believed to have twice the capacity of the country’s incineration requirements in 2016. If we don’t need it, then don’t build it.

“I hope that Minister Gormley will now honour his commitments regarding the Poolbeg incinerator, but I am alarmed that the Green Party had conceded that incineration is a part of waste disposal in 21st Century Ireland. Before the General Election the Green Party were venomously against incineration but now they are accepting incineration will continue to be a part of Ireland’s answer to waste disposal. How many more u-turns can we expect from the Green Party?”