Ex-FF councillor tries to stop incinerator

The European Parliament has been asked to investigate the circumstances surrounding the selection of the Poolbeg peninsula as…

The European Parliament has been asked to investigate the circumstances surrounding the selection of the Poolbeg peninsula as the site for Dublin's municipal waste incinerator.

In a case lodged with the parliament's petitions committee, Fianna Fáil election candidate and former Dublin city councillor Chris Andrews claims that council management had failed to honour an agreement to put any proposed site for an incinerator to a vote of councillors.

This is the most recent attempt to stop the incinerator since Dublin City Council applied to An Bord Pleanála for planning permission for the facility last Friday.

The council intends to burn 600,000 tonnes annually, which amounts to 25 per cent of Dublin's waste, at the 5.5-hectare site in southeast Dublin.

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The incinerator is part of Government policy. However, Mr Andrews is one of several Fianna Fáil and PD politicians, including Minister for Justice Michael McDowell, to oppose its development within their constituency.

Mr Andrews claims that in 1998, when he was a city councillor, the councillors adopted the waste-management plan on the understanding that "siting criteria" for any incinerator would come before a vote of the council.

Olivia Kelly

Olivia Kelly

Olivia Kelly is Dublin Editor of The Irish Times