Almost 1,700 submissions opposing waste incineration have been received by Wexford County Council.
The objections were issued in response to an invitation by local authorities for submissions on a new waste-management plan for the south-east.
A draft plan, due to be completed by autumn, will go on public display. Consultants acting for the region's six local authorities have refused to rule incineration out of the options being considered.
A strong anti-incineration campaign has been in place in Wexford since 1999.
A spokesman for Wexford County Council said it received 1,677 submissions, of which 1,674 were form letters distributed by the New Ross-based Research and Information Group (RAIG), which opposes incineration. A spokesman for the group, Mr Joe Bridges, said RAIG had held meetings in Campile and Fethard at which it distributed a template of what one could include in a submission, but people had gone away and made up their own minds. "We had to hold public meetings because no one else is informing the public about this process," he said.
Local authorities in the region say they accept that the public is largely unaware of the waste-management plan and they intend to address this with a series of information meetings.
Ms Laura Lenehan, public awareness officer with Tipperary South County Council, which is co-ordinating the waste plan, said council officials would hold meetings with representatives of local communities.
To date, consultations have taken place through an information and communication forum, which held its second meeting in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, on Thursday. But Mr Bridges, who attended the meeting, claimed the forum was "a consultation charade".
Elected representatives and the public would have no opportunity to approve or reject the final plan because of the recently-passed Waste Management Act which gave county managers exclusive power in this area, he said. A spokesman for Wexford County Council, however, said this would only be applied "as a last resort". The forum was "a genuine attempt to incorporate people's views . . . There is a variety of views, and no matter what solution is found it will not make everybody happy."
