Roche: Waste incineration is best way forward

The Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, said today that incineration must be part of the waste solution in Ireland.

Mr Roche said he was confident in the EPA's decision to grant licences for commercial incinerators in Co Meath and Co Cork.

Opposition parties have claimed the implications of incineration for health, safety and the environment have not been fully dealt with.

However, Mr Roche said the country needs to realise that it cannot keep dumping its waste in landfills.

“We have to stop playing the hypocrites in this country. We have to stop believing the fairies are going to take the waste away from the bottom of our garden,” he said.

“I can't understand how any senior politician could say that in Ireland can have the kind of clean environment that we aspire to and suggest that the only way we can deal with our waste is to dump it in holes in the ground.

“The least environmentally friendly way of dealing with waste is by dumping it in landfill.”