Motorcade protest against incinerator plans

A motorcade protest against a planned incinerator in Dublin is expected to get under way in the city today.

Residents of Ringsend, Irishtown and Sandymount are demonstrating at the proposed siting of a waste plant at nearby Poolbeg in the east of the city.

Dublin City Council has applied to An Bord Pleanala for approval for the facility which would burn 600,000 tonnes of household, commercial and industrial waste annually.

A convoy of cars adorned with balloons and banners will set off from Star of the Sea church in Sandymount at 1230 to remind the public that objections to the plans must be lodged by Monday, October 2.

“An Bord Pleanala, decided that a similar site in Poolbeg was unsuitable for an incinerator in 1996 on a number on grounds, one of which was the lack of infrastructure – the road network in the immediate area could not cater for the proposed increase in traffic,” said Frances Corr of Combined Residents Against Incineration (CRAI).

“What has changed? There is no new road network, traffic usage has increased on our roads and the planned incinerator is six times the size of the last proposal. If it was unsuitable then, it is unsuitable now.”