‘No’ lobby must face up to reality

AS yesterday’s inquiry into one of the most emotive issues facing modern society degenerated into something of a shambles, the cliche ‘it could only happen in Ireland’ became reality.

Farcically, a Bord Pleanála inquiry into plans for the country’s first commercial toxic waste incinerator was held up by glitches in the public address system.

Belatedly, the inquiry got down to the real business of taking submissions from 60 parties on the proposal to build the €95 million facility beside Cork Harbour.

Understandably, this issue has generated widespread public opposition locally. However, it has wider implications as the country struggles to cope with a growing mountain of toxic, commercial and domestic waste. Essentially, the issue has come to a head because

Belgium’s Indaver group is appealing a decision by Cork County Council, whose members voted against granting a material contravention of its development plan for the project to go ahead.

Nationally, it would be hard to exaggerate the significance of this hearing at a time when communities and politicians are locked in debate on how Ireland should dispose of both its industrial and domestic waste.

Cork is in the eye of a storm now raging from Ringaskiddy to the suburbs of Dublin where further arrests are likely following the jailing of Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins and fellow councillor Clare Daly for contempt of court on foot of their misguided protest against having to pay for refuse collection. It is time Deputy Higgins accepted the fundamental principle that the polluter pays.

In the realm of toxic waste, however, the issues are more complex. As a focal point of the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, Cork produces over 60% of the country’s hazardous waste and, therefore, according to those behind the venture, this makes an incinerator an absolute necessity for the area.

However, in the minds of 20,000 people opposing the proposal, genuine health and environmental fears arise over the possible repercussions of living with a national incinerator in their midst. Practically speaking, the land would have to be rezoned to allow the area to be used for an incinerator. Otherwise, the proposal would breach the county development plan.

Significantly, a major report by Irish researchers found evidence of a link between cancer and incinerators to be inconclusive. However, it pointed up the urgency of developing reliable information systems to measure the health and environmental impact of landfill dumps and incinerators. And it ruled out the possibility of conducting adequate risk assessment because the personnel and dedicated resources were not available here. The report suggests this country’s health information systems are not sufficiently developed to support routine monitoring of the health of people living near waste sites.

Against this complex backdrop, the only certainty is that the toxic waste issue is not going to go away.

Pressure is growing on local authorities to provide adequate facilities. There is also an onus on central government to develop an effective, health-conscious policy.

With other nations increasingly opposed to handling Ireland’s hazardous waste, the Bord Pleanála hearing goes to the heart of a social, environmental and industrial crisis of unprecedented proportions.

Nobody wants to live beside an incinerator or a landfill dump. But, sooner rather than later, the people of Ireland will have to face this dilemma. In the public interest, the NIMBY (not in my backyard) syndrome is an attitude the country can ill-afford.