The consultants who drew up a waste management plan for Connacht have insisted that the plan is still "intact" despite Roscommon County Council's rejection of incineration.
Mr P.J. Rudden of M.C. O'Sullivan Ltd said yesterday the council had accepted the integrated approach of maximum recycling and minimum landfill.
"The Connacht Regional Waste Plan is intact. The members approve of the ambitious recycling target of 48 per cent, which is the main focus of the plan. There never was any intention to build a thermal treatment plant of any kind in the county, so this is of no consequence for the plan," Mr Rudden insisted.
However, the chairman of Roscommon County Council, Mr Tom Crosby, said yesterday it was his belief that the councillors had rejected incineration in Connacht.
"The councillors were opposed to incineration anywhere in Connacht and not just in Roscommon," he said. The proposal passed at Monday's meeting stated: "Roscommon County Council reject absolutely thermal treatment or incineration and landfill sites in Co Roscommon, but recognise positive elements in the plan including recycling and waste minimisation." It further called on the council to implement these positive elements with the aim of reaching maximum targets to minimise waste.
The plan had proposed that an incinerator be located close to the area where most waste was generated in the region, i.e. in Galway. Galway Corporation rejected this part of the plan, and that decision is now under legal review.
On Monday's meeting Fianna Fail senator, Mr Michael Finneran, who originally proposed the adoption of the waste plan when the council met in July, said the plan was "now in tatters" since the votes by the Galway local authorities. "It is not now a plan that can be put into operation," he added.
The Fine Gael TD Mr Denis Naughten told the meeting he would like to know if the EU had ever carried out a study into the effects of emissions from incinerators, as he felt there were "questions to be answered".