An expert group of Irish parliamentarians and high ranking civil servants has just returned after spending a week in Switzerland studying that country's 100-year experience of waste incineration and other environmental issues.
While there the group, which included the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Dr Mary Kelly, and members of the Oireachtas Committee on the Environment and Local Government, viewed work on one of Switzerland's most contaminated landfill sites, Kolligen near Zurich, and held discussions with the Swiss Agency for the Environment Forests and Landscapes (SAEFL).
The Irish group, which also included academics from Trinity College and UCD and senior civil servants was travelling at the invitation of the Swiss Federal Government.
The group was also given a presentation by members of the International Commission for the Protection of Lake Geneva and viewed a number of water treatment plants in ecologically sensitive Alpine areas.
In Bern the study group was entertained by the Irish Ambassador to Switzerland, Mr John Lawton.
A number of domestic waste incineration sites and some hazardous waste incineration sites were also visited, including the largest urban incinerator in Switzerland, which handles up to 350,000 tonnes of waste per year and which is equipped with some of the latest equipment to remove pollutants. The Irish expert group in Switzerland included Mr Padraig McCormack (Fine Gael), and Mr Ciaran Cuffe (Green Party), Opposition spokesmen on the environment; Dr Anna Davies, a lecturer in environmental geography at Trinity College Dublin; Mr Roger Timlin, director of environmental services with Longford County Council; Mr John Tierney, the Galway city manager; Ms Louise Gallagher of the Department of Environmental Studies at UCD; Mr Brendan O'Neill, an inspector with the Department of the Environment; Ms Bernie Walsh of the Sunflower recycling Project in Dublin; and Mr Leslie Coughlan of H R Holfeld and the Swiss - Irish Business Association.
The group was accompanied by Mr Michel Faillettaz of the Swiss Embassy in Dublin.
