Galway's waste problem may require "direct action" within the next week, the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Dempsey, has warned.
Speaking in Galway on Friday, the Minister said the Government might have to intervene with new legislation, following last year's rejection of the Connacht Waste Management Plan by both Galway Corporation and the County Council.
Alternatively, the local authorities may be given a deadline for agreeing on a waste plan, the Minister told The Irish Times, stressing that he was still considering all the options before him.
Mr Dempsey has already expressed serious concern about the Galway situation, which has been given a new urgency by the looming ban on disposal of all the city's commercial waste from February 1st at the county's one landfill - Poolboy in Ballinasloe. He said he could not preside over a situation where waste was left on the city's streets, posing a public health hazard.
Thermal treatment or incineration is central to the impasse in Galway, with Galway for a Safe Environment (GSE) accusing the Minister of using bullying tactics to impose this form of waste disposal.
Galway is the only area in the State where sites for possible thermal treatment were identified during the debate on the waste management plan for five Connacht counties.
Last week's remarks on incineration by the Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, have given a new twist to the debate. Mr Bruton told a public meeting in Duleek, Co Meath - the constituency shared by himself and Mr Dempsey - that there should be a moratorium on incineration, pending further studies on safety issues concerned with such plants.
"It seems that Mr Bruton changes his party's policy depending on which way the wind is blowing," Mr Dempsey said. "He said only a week ago on local radio, LMFM, that he favoured incineration, and this is also stated in his party's own policy document."
Speaking after a day-long series of engagements in Galway city and county last Friday, he said he intended to decide on the options before him within the week in relation to Galway's waste issue. Two separate decisions had to be made, but both might require amending the 1996 Waste Management Act, Mr Dempsey said.
The first decision related to the emerging waste crisis, whereby Galway's commercial rubbish will not be accepted at Poolboy landfill after February 1st. The second related to the future of the Connacht waste management plan.
The Minister said he could either take "direct action" on the Connacht plan, or give the local authorities a deadline by which they had to put a plan in place. "Direct action" would involve empowering the local authority executive to take a decision without the sanction of the elected representatives, but this would require enabling legislation, he said.
Legislation would also be required for the short-term situation. Galway County Council and business interests have already sought his intervention in relation to Poolboy but this would require amending Section 38 of the Waste Management Act, the Minister said.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines require that the total annual tonnage at Poolboy be reduced from 75,000 tonnes this year to 50,000 tonnes next year. This prompted Ballinasloe Urban District Council to impose a ban on commercial waste from Galway city from February 1st, and from Galway county (except the UDC area) from July 1st next.
The Minister could lift the cap on tonnage going into the landfill - currently about 500 tonnes of commercial waste every week from the city and about 300 tonnes in the county. The landfill takes an overall weekly total of around 1,500 tonnes of both commercial and domestic waste.
Both IBEC West and Galway Chamber of Commerce have expressed serious concern, with the chamber stating that the Minister might be more inclined to make the legislative move if the local authorities put the waste plan back on their agenda.
