Incinerator site fails the flood hazard test

WE have all seen the devastation caused by flooding recently. Places that had never experienced flooding previously were totally submerged, such were the volumes of water that fell.

The site in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork, where Indaver Ireland has applied to build two incinerators was again seriously flooded.

Flooding there left the proposed hazardous waste storage area completely submerged.

The WHO warns that hazardous incinerators should not be built on flood plains. Indaver’s site clearly fails this criterion. In addition to repeated flooding episodes, successive reports by the Office of Public Works and the Environmental Protection Association have pinpointed the Ringaskiddy coastal area as vulnerable to the impact of climate change and flooding.

At the recent oral hearing, hydrologist Shane Bennett and climatologist Prof John Sweeney left no one in any doubt as to the site’s unsuitability.

The flooding has brought into sharp focus the need for planning decisions that are in the interest of the communities and society, not just private developers. We can’t afford any more mistakes.

Mary O’Leary

CHASE

Spy Hill

Cobh

Co Cork