Minister for the Environment John Gormley has said he intends to change national waste policy in order to stop the development of the 600,000 tonne municipal waste incinerator in Poolbeg.
An Bord Pleanála yesterday granted planning permission for the development, citing current national waste management policy as one of the reasons for approving the incinerator.
Mr Gormley said last night that he was "very disappointed" by the decision. He said he planned to review waste policy within the next nine months and expected that review would find the incinerator was "redundant" and "unviable".
The Poolbeg incinerator is required to run at almost full capacity to make it viable. Dublin City Council has entered into a contract with Dublin Waste to Energy Ltd, the company that will build and run the plant, which guarantees this waste stream. Failure to meet the capacity of the plant will result in financial penalties to the council.
Mr Gormley said last night that he did not think this contract was sustainable. It was his view that only 400,000 tonnes of waste nationally would require incineration each year and he intended to direct waste away from the incinerator. "We will have to look at how this particular project is being financed. In my view it is wrong to direct waste into incineration, I would hope to direct waste away from incineration."
The Poolbeg incinerator was "an unsustainable project" as was the contract which guaranteed waste for the incinerator, he said.
Labour city councillor for Dublin southeast, Kevin Humphreys, said Mr Gormley had failed in his pre-election promise to stop the incinerator.
"John Gormley ran in the election on an anti-incinerator platform. He has lost that policy. The Minister should now consider his role in Government."
Local Fine Gael TD Lucinda Creighton said local residents felt that Mr Gormley had "let down" the area. "His capacity for a U- turn is extraordinary. He had five months to sort this out and he has done nothing despite all his commitments," she said.
Sinn Féin councillor Daithí Doolan said he and all residents had hoped a "Green Minister" would have stopped the project.
Combined Residents Against Incineration representative Fran- ces Corr said it was staggering that the incinerator had received planning permission given that an application for the nearby Glass Bottle site had been refused because of poor infrastructure.
Mr Gormley said he was "extremely irritated" by criticism from Opposition politicians who had not attended the oral hearing on the development. "How dare they lecture me . . . they have brass necks."
