Democracy incinerated in pursuit of something called common good
Just how big a fan, exactly, do the people of Ringaskiddy need to deal with what's being thrown at them at the moment? It transpires that the area could be the site also for a massive sewage treatment plant, even if Cork county council seems to be rather shy about disclosing its precise location.
This possibility arose less than a week after An Bord Pleanála granted approval for the controversial incinerator for hazardous waste to be built there.
The lower harbour's existing sewage system is at breaking point, according to Passage West-based town councillor Michael McGrath, and money was secured for a new system before Christmas.
Mr McGrath said that the council has not publicly disclosed the site, but he claimed Ringaskiddy is being actively considered as the location.
If that's the case, I'm not surprised the local authority is shy about announcing the fact, given the justifiable outrage the people there feel about the incinerator decision. The latest body to point out how the common good would benefit from the incinerator being imposed on Ringaskiddy is the South-West Regional Authority.
A Fianna Fáil member, Cllr Vivian O'Callaghan, at a recent meeting gave local politicians a lecture on the virtues of positive leadership, at least where incineration is concerned.
Exhorting councillors "to lead and not be led" in the current controversy, he said it was time they stood up against pressure groups for the sake of the greater good.
This meant that if the south-west region hoped to retain and develop its pharma-chemical sector, incineration would have to be faced up to. Councillors, including those who supported the anti-incinerator groups at Ringaskiddy, would find themselves up against candidates put forward by the very group they had supported, he concluded.
The people there already have the elected representatives they need those who acknowledge the will of the people and understand the worries and fears of the local community, who for decades have accepted and co-operated with the pharma-chemical capital of Ireland.
What Cllr O'Callaghan seemed to suggest was that those public representatives who support the demands of more than 20,000 people are in some way acting against the common good.
Maybe Cllr O'Callaghan would not be so sanguine if the proposed incinerator was to be constructed near his own native town of Bantry, and indeed he would be right.
In the context of Ringaskiddy, where local democracy has been trampled on disgracefully, it is over the top to suggest that the people there are unconcerned about the common good. Because it may be government policy, it does not necessarily mean that something is in the interest of the greater good.
Since they were returned to power, the coalition government of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats have shown scant regard for anything which most people would regard to be in the common good. They govern by diktat, indifferent to the fact that people are utterly sick and tired of a government which seems it couldn't care less about money squandered in the face of glaring defects in our health and education systems, to name just two.
To refer back to Vivian O'Callaghan's concern about the greater good, how can that be served when, in this case, democracy as we know it has to be abandoned? To follow that argument to its logical conclusion we may as well have an autocracy, because what does it matter if the democratic will of a community, and expressed by their democratically elected representatives, can be so shoddily ignored "in the interests of the common good."
Many would argue that we already have an autocracy.
If you are a resident of Ringaskiddy, or its hinterland, you certainly would, and with just cause. If you are not, you should be incensed and outraged at what is happening there.
THE incinerator proposed by Indaver Ireland, or by anybody else, was not part of the Cork county development plan.
A majority of the elected members of Cork county council twice voted against giving it planning permission one occasion being a move by management to invoke a material contravention of the plan.
Indaver appealed to An Bord Pleanála and a lengthy oral hearing was conducted by one of its own senior inspectors, Philip Jones. His eventual recommendation was that approval not be given and he supported it with 14 reasons.
One of those was that it would be contrary to national policy in relation to hazardous waste management and disposal. It would also contravene the Cork development plan on a number of counts.
Importantly, Mr Jones said that the environmental impact statement submitted was inadequate and failed to comply with mandatory requirements.
The board, he said, was not satisfied that the development would not be likely to have adverse impacts on the environment. Crucially, he concluded, the board was not satisfied on the basis of evidence submitted and heard at the oral hearing that the incinerator would not pose "significant risks to public safety if there was a major accident," especially with its proximity to the National Maritime College. The emergency infrastructure was inadequate and the site was at the end of a peninsula.
Amazingly, An Bord Pleanála gave the go-ahead to the incinerator, declaring it, by nine votes to one, to be in accordance with national policy set out by the Government, among other things. Because of current waste management legislation, they were prevented from considering matters relating to the risk of environmental pollution and, far more important, the possible risk to the health of the people.
The "they" who comprise the board are largely former senior planning inspectors, former civil servants, a former local authority senior engineer, a consultant, a former local authority planner, an architect, a solicitor and a former IBEC director.
But they have the power to over-rule local democracy, and they did so with the blessing of the Government.
Our Minister for the Environment, Martin Cullen welcomed the decision. He rejected claims that the toxic waste incinerator would be a threat to public safety or health.
How in God's name can he give such a categorical assurance when even Indaver Ireland accepts there are no guarantees that something will not go wrong, although they maintain every possible safety precaution has been incorporated into the design of the plant?
It's just another example of a Government minister condescendingly telling the people that he, or she, knows best.
In this case, Minister Cullen is flying in the face of the conclusions of an experienced senior inspector with An Bord Pleanála and, hopefully, he will not live to regret it.
Not that the fight is over.
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