The Fine Gael TD Mr John Bruton yesterday condemned the decision to grant permission for an incinerator at Duleek, Co Meath.
The former party leader said the State probably needed no incinerators for quite a while, and fewer than now being planned, if any at all.
"Incinerators are like beasts that have to be fed rubbish at a constant rate. The building of incinerators will undermine the economic viability of waste minimisation and recycling options because of the demand for unrecycled rubbish that they will create."
Mr Bruton said Carranstown, the proposed site, was a "uniquely unsuitable" location for an incinerator because local residents already had the burden of other polluting industries concentrated nearby.
The health effects of incineration, he said, had not been adequately researched, particularly in regard to the impact of dioxins. "Such research should have been undertaken by the Health Research Bureau before any decision on any incinerator anywhere in Ireland was taken."
Meath County Council, in deciding the application, had been unable to take environment considerations into account because the Minister had not brought into force legislation that would have allowed it to do so, he said.
"This is wrong. Whatever about the long term, the Government's plans involve far too much emphasis on incineration in the short term." He said he hoped the application was "thrown out" on appeal.