Toxic waste fears must be tackled

NOBODY wants to live beside an incinerator or a dump. Yet, there is growing pressure on local authorities to provide such controversial facilities as Ireland struggles to cope with a mountain of toxic, commercial and domestic waste.

The urgency of confronting this dilemma and the intensity of opposition to such controversial proposals were underlined yesterday as councillors threw out plans for a 100,000-tonne hazardous waste plant at Ringaskiddy in Cork harbour, focal point of the State's burgeoning chemical and pharmaceutical industry.

Whether objections are based on environmental, health or property considerations the prospect of having an incinerator next door is a highly emotive issue that goes far beyond the NIMBY not in my backyard syndrome.

The challenge facing both Government and local authorities is to devise a policy for disposing of waste without generating fears of hazardous emissions or noxious odours in communities where people have an inalienable right to live, work, play and rear their children in safety.

In political, social, economic and public health terms it would be hard to exaggerate the urgency of working out a satisfactory solution to this thorny question.

The argument is politically explosive, as evidenced by the 30-16 council vote to reject plans by Indaver, a group operating several incinerators around Europe, to construct Ireland's first toxic waste facility at Ringaskiddy.

Doubtless, when they voted yesterday, politicians were conscious that protesters outside the hall represented 20,000 people who have objected to Indaver's proposal.

Effectively, the vote means the county development plan will not be torn up and rewritten, as elected councillors voted against the executive's call for a material contravention of the planning rules so the incinerator could go ahead.

The vote gets councillors off the political hook as voters will be reminded where candidates stood on incineration when local elections are held next summer.

But it is not the end of the story, as Indaver intends to appeal the decision to An Bord Pleanála.

The reality is that Cork has the greatest concentration of Ireland's chemical and pharmaceutical industry.

With some notable exceptions, factories have generally been run safely and, in the process, have generated thousands of jobs and manufactured products worth billions to the economy.

Nowadays, however, getting rid of hazardous waste is a major problem.

Though a proportion of waste material is handled in-house, the vast bulk goes abroad.

This involves moving hazardous material by road to Dublin and shipping it from there to Britain and other European countries for destruction or recovery.

Plainly, this situation cannot continue. Citizens of other nations are increasingly opposed, and understandably so, to handling Ireland's hazardous waste.

With an estimated 60% of toxic waste being generated in the Cork area, there is an irresistible argument for disposing of it locally.

Objectors believe there are safer ways of dealing with this material.

Significantly, a Portuguese firm planning to build an incinerator in Britain has bowed to public pressure, modifying its plans by replacing the incinerator element of the project with a thermal treatment facility to reduce harmful emissions.

Arguably, Indaver should adopt a similar approach.

Given the intensity of public feeling, it is incumbent on the Government to commission an independent, objective and transparent analysis in order to inform debate on this deeply divisive and emotive question.

It is a controversy that will run and run.