Taoiseach: Meeting with sewage plant objectors not the minister's function

The Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said there is no point in the Environment Minister Phil Hogan meeting objectors to a massive sewage treatment plant in Dublin.

There is fury after Fingal County Council outlined it favours building the €500m plant in Clonshaugh in the north of the city.

In the Dáil, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin urged the Government to meet with representatives of twelve-thousand people who object to the facility.

But the Taoiseach said the Environment Minister's only role is in funding and so the minister meeting with objectors would serve no purpose.

He said: "Your request for Minister Hogan to meet with groups carries no weight in the sense that the minister has no function here with the county council and An Bord Pleanála.

"In the event of it going through an entirely independent planning process."