Anti-incineration groups throughout the State will meet in Athlone on Saturday week to form a national alliance against incineration as a waste management option.
In Cork yesterday, at the launch of the Cork Alliance for a Safe Environment (CASE), the various anti-incineration groups around Cork Harbour joined in a single organisation dedicated to preventing a toxic waste incinerator proposed for Ringaskiddy.
The Belgian company Indaver is expected to lodge a planning application for two incinerators at Ringaskiddy before the end of next month.
One of the incinerators would treat toxic waste from all over Ireland while the second would be used to treat municipal waste only.
CASE argues that there are five in-house incinerators at plants in the Ringaskiddy area and the combined dioxin emissions released to the atmosphere are unknown.
The organisation claims the roads in the small village would be unable to cope if the incinerator went ahead.
CASE says claims that incineration is safe are unproven and adds that the current waste management crisis has developed because of neglect by successive administrations.
Mr Derry Chambers, a member of the group, said yesterday all interested anti-incineration groups in Ireland would convene on September 15th in Athlone to formulate a joint policy against incineration.
He said communities throughout the State, particularly in Galway, Meath and Wexford, where local authorities are considering incineration, were as concerned as the communities in the greater Cork region, especially those communities which would be in close proximity to the two incinerators proposed for Ringaskiddy.
Mr Chambers said the question of running candidates in the next election would be discussed at the Athlone meeting.
The likelihood was that anti-incineration candidates from Galway, Meath and Wexford would contest the next general election, but in Cork the Green Party, which opposes incineration, would carry the banner for CASE.
"It looks as if we are moving towards selecting one-issue candidates who would fight the election in a very focused manner on an anti-incineration platform," Mr Chambers said.