Simon Coveney and Micheál Martin team up on incinerator
Both Mr Coveney and Deputy Martin said there was no economic imperative for such a facility and that it would undermine efforts to transform the entire Cork Harbour area. Mr Martin queried how many times such a proposal could be brought before it is finally dropped.
They were speaking as the oral hearing into the proposal entered its second week and only after the chief inspector, Derek Daly, said he would be continuing with the hearing after calls for the matter to be adjourned over confusion about the application process.
Deputy Coveney, a local TD and Minister for Defence, Agriculture and the Marine, said a “significant chunk of money” had already been spent on projects such as the transformation of Spike and Haulbowline Islands as part of various master plans and that the construction of an incinerator there by Indaver Ireland would “undoubtedly undermine” those efforts.
He said he supported the views expressed at the hearing last week by Comdt Dave Brown from the Air Corps regarding concerns about helicopter access and related issues, and he said the proposed development ran counter to government policy.
Mr Coveney also said a letter sent by Junior Environment Minister Paudie Coffey to Cork County Council had been on the matter of national policy and had not been site specific. He said it had been misinterpreted if there were suggestions that the Department of the Environment or a government minister might have been in favour of the location.
Expanding on his opposition to the proposed development Mr Coveney referred to work already taking place in the area and said: “The reason why this proposal is such a threat and compromises what the Government is proposing... is simply the proximity of the site to the other activities that are underway in the harbour.”
He said he was not making a judgement on Indaver as a company, but that money spent on trying to reinvent the industrially-scarred Haulbowline Island, and resources used to develop facilities such as the Beaufort Centre, was aiming to turn the area into a marine tourism and research area of “real significance” and locating an incinerator in the midst of it would fundamentally undermine those efforts.
He said Spike Island could be a major tourism feature and work was continuing on looking into the possibility of the harbour acting as an ocean racing hub, so putting an incinerator in the area would “undoubtedly undermine” those efforts. He said the Taoiseach and a number of ministers had already visited the area as it was the site for significant strategic investment.
Speaking as a local resident and representative he said: “I believe fundamentally this is the wrong location. I do not believe adequate attention has been afforded to alternatives.”
Deputy Martin, from the same constituency, said he believed the site was too small and the contention that it was the only site available for an incinerator was “a false and flawed one”.
“A new vista is opening up for the harbour which in my view would be irreparably damaged by the insertion of an incinerator,” he said.
“There is no planning imperative for this incinerator in this location.”
Deputy Martin also said it had been proved that attracting inward investment did not hinge on having such a facility in the area, so there was “no economic imperative” for it either.
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