Company insists new site won’t create odours

Neans McSweeney, South-East Correspondent

Angry residents gathered outside the gates of the proposed site for a new AES Ireland waste management company in Portlaw, Waterford, last night, vowing not to be saddled with another industry which might create a nuisance on their doorstep.

The developers, AES Ireland Ltd, have an exemplary record at their other sites and say the key issues raised by protestors have been addressed in the planning application.

The company said the technology it plans to use will employ an odour abatement system and there is absolutely no threat of smells or difficulties for people living in the area.

Among those gathered last night at the proposed plant site were local objector David Kane. For years, many battled with Michell Ireland, the former operators of the site, over the smell it was creating.

“There is a distinct lack of any meaningful consultation with local people about this development. The environmental impact statement done on this is quite vague, we feel,” he said.

He and others say they will go to An Bord Pleanala and will further object to any license which might by granted to AES Ireland for a plant in Portlaw, if Waterford County Council give the project the green light.

AES has offered to meet with the objectors and address the issues concerned. Contrary to an earlier report in relation to a disused site at Portarlington, AES has never been reprimanded for any offence at that site or anywhere else.

Over the years, it has opened and acquired sites in Navan, Athlone, Tullamore, Portlaoise, Nenagh and Naas. The principle part of the proposed business will be the installation of a composting unit which will take in municipal, wet waste through a composting process, converting it into a valuable odour-free compost product.