An anti-incineration campaign in the north-east has not ruled out running candidates in the next general election if Meath County Council grants planning permission for a waste management plant including an incinerator near Drogheda.
More than 22,000 people have signed a petition opposing any waste plan that includes incineration and some 5,000 individual objections to the application from Indaver Ireland have been lodged with the council.
The plant is proposed for Carranstown, four miles from Drogheda.
"We are not part of the NIMBY (not in my backyard) syndrome. It if is not good for us, it is not good for our neighbours," said Mr Michael Cullinane, member of the No Incineration Alliance (NIA). He has a child attending Mount Hanover National School, less than one mile from the proposed site.
"Within a five-mile radius you have 4,000 secondary school students and 5,000 national school students. The emissions will spread beyond that, right into the north-east covering an area of 30-40 miles. There are plans to build seven to eight incinerators around Ireland so what we are experiencing locally other communities will experience shortly," Mr Cullinane said.
The NIA said Fianna Fail, and in particular the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, could expect a significant drop in support in the election because their Waste Management (Amendment) Plan 2001 allows county managers to adopt waste management programmes if councillors do not.
Mr John Ahern, general manager of Indaver Ireland said the incineration of waste to energy process would produce enough electricity to supply 16,000 houses a year. The plant, which would cost the company £60 million, would take 170,000 tonnes of waste a year from the north-east.
"The EU and more importantly the World Health Organisation has studied waste management and they conclude that properly run, properly designed incinerators do not pose a health risk," he added.
Councillors in Co Meath brought forward their monthly meeting yesterday to facilitate an information trip to incinerators in Germany and Denmark.
Twelve councillors will spend four days visiting the plants in Frankfurt and Copenhagen.