Incinerator plan: oral hearing protest

ANTI-INCINERATION groups will protest today at the opening of an oral hearing into plans to burn household waste at a thermal treatment plant in Co Meath.

The company behind the proposals, Indaver Ireland, face a second oral hearing in less than a fortnight - the first was to examine plans in Cork for a toxic waste incinerator in Ringaskiddy. The company is proposing an €85 million municipal waste plant in the Boyne Valley at Carranstown, between Drogheda and Dulleek,

The Green Party, backed by anti-incineration groups from Meath and Louth, will stage a protest outside the oral hearing in Dundalk, convened by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Green Party leader Trevor Sargent will be joined by party chairman Deputy John Gormley and Meath by-election colleague Fergal O’Byrne.

A 12-day EPA oral hearing into the Cork proposal ended last week. A recommendation from oral hearing chairman Dr Jonathan Derham is due with the EPA board within four months.

Indaver Ireland has issued an assurance to concerned communities in Meath and Louth. “We wouldn’t be building this incinerator if we didn’t feel it was safe,” a spokesman said.

Under planning conditions, the Carranstown plant would be restricted to burning 150,000 tonnes of waste annually and only permitted to accept waste from four north-eastern counties.