Cork waste burn ban ‘must be dropped’

A junior minister has told Cork County Council it must drop a ban on building industrial-scale incinerators which the local authority has included in a blueprint for future development.

Councillors decided last month to adopt the ban and the decision was formally included in its new county development plan, which will act as a guide to construction in the region until 2021.

Cork has a long history of objecting to industrial-scale incineration. In the early 2000s, locals fought against plans by Indavar to locate incinerators in Ringaskiddy.

Some councillors yesterday expressed anger on discovering junior minister Paudie Coffey, with responsibility for co-ordinating future construction needs, had written to council officials advising their views on incineration were contrary to government policy.

Cllrs Marcia D’Alton (Ind) and Seamus McGrath (FF) led condemnation of the ministerial communication, with the former saying that she was “very, very angry” about what she claimed amounted to bullying and “an attack on local democracy”.

A major campaign against incineration was also mounted by Cork Harbour for a Safe Environment.

Cllr McGrath said he was concerned the minister’s letter “effectively left the door open” to companies like Indavar to reapply for planning permission.

“This is a complete charade. The plan will go out to public consultation on Wednesday and what’s the point of that if we, as elected representatives and the members of the public, are going to be overruled,” he said.

Cllr D’Alton pointed out the letter stated councillors were obliged to comply with national policy and had “no say” in the matter. She added, apart from national policy, the minister had also mentioned the councillors’ decision “contravened the new southern region waste management plan”.

She said: “It’s an insult to councillors. It means there’s no democracy. The people [of Cork] have spoken over and over again of their objections to incineration.”

Indavar received planning permission for a hazardous waste incinerator in Ringaskiddy in the early 2000s after the board of Bord Pleanála overruled its inspector.

At the time, the company also proposed to build a municipal waste incinerator in the same area, but did not progress it to the application stage.

When planning expired a few years later, Indavar reapplied, for two incinerators for which it had already been granted waste licence by the Environmental Protection Association (EPA). The applications were for larger capacity incinerators, but were refused by Bord Pleanála.

Cllr D’Alton said incineration would not fit in with more progressive and environmentally-friendly plans for Cork Harbour, which had been adopted since the first Indavar applications.

These include tourism-related projects at Spike Island and Fort Camden; the remediation of the toxic dump at Haulbowline Island; and the green energy technology being developed on the Irish Maritime Energy Research Cluster campus.

Council chief executive Tim Lucey said he would brief members on the outcomes of the ministerial directive at a meeting of the council’s development committee on Friday.