A motion of no confidence in Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, is being tabled by the Green Party for what it describes as his "complete mismanagement of the waste crisis".
The Green Party has sought support from Fine Gael and the Labour Party for the motion and expects it will be raised in the Dail next week.
Mr John Gormley, Green Party TD, said the motion was being brought because Minister Dempsey had allowed a problem to become a crisis. "His position as Minister for the Environment is no longer tenable. During his tenure, Ireland has become probably the most environmentally-unfriendly country in the EU."
Cllr Mary White, Green Party environment spokeswoman, said she was shocked by Galway councillors' decision to vote for an incinerator. "Incineration is a quick-fix solution for polluters and creates serious environmental problems through toxic ash and dioxins."
Cllr White said the Government was using "touchy-feely" expressions such as thermal treatment and gasification to avoid the reality of incineration. She accused it of using "jackboot tactics" to introduce incinerators and said reusing, recycling and reducing was the solution. A gasification plant in Frankfurt, Germany, which was being "touted as the panacea for all our waste problems" was now closed and seeking a new licence, she said.
Ms White said Dilbeek in Belgium had reduced by 60 per cent its waste going to landfill sites in one year, through a waste management strategy.
Mr Trevor Sargent, Green Party TD, said the Minister had put his faith in "the two-card-trick strategy of a hidden mixed waste cocktail of super-dumps and the expensive toxic ash and dioxin factories known euphemistically as thermal treatment plants".
He claimed the Green Party's 10-point zero waste strategy plan would solve the crisis. This includes proposals for the separate collection of wet (organic) and dry (inorganic) waste from businesses and households by a set date and the provision of local waste segregation warehouses to receive dry waste.
Local composting compounds would receive all wet wastes. The plan includes a weight-related waste collection charge and a £100/tonne landfill charge.
