The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has agreed to meet councillors from Drogheda Borough Council to discuss their concerns about an incinerator proposed by Indaver Ireland as part of a waste management facility at Carranstown, Duleek, about four miles from Drogheda.
As part of the planning permission granted in July last year by Meath County Council, the developers must secure the appropriate waste licence from the agency, and that application is currently with the EPA.
The oral hearing by An Bord Pleanála into objections to planning permission for the facility begins in Drogheda on Monday, and the borough councillors are attending as a group of elected representatives rather than as members of the council itself.
The decision by the Louth county manager, Mr John Quinliven, to use his executive powers to adopt the Waste Management Plan for the North East, which provides for incineration, has caused anger among a number of the councillors.
Cllr Gerald Nash said this left the councillors appealing the decision without his support, "as he had cleared the way for the introduction of incineration in the context of the Waste Management Plan, a plan which was introduced at the behest of the then minister for the environment, Noel Dempsey, and which was not approved by Louth County Councillors."
As a result the councillors each contributed towards the cost of making their objection and have met in private to agree a strategy for next week's oral hearing in relation to the planning application.
The Mayor of Drogheda, Mr Malachy Godfrey, will present the opinions of the elected members while a number of the councillors will also attend and speak on a personal basis.
Indaver has said the incinerator along with the recycling facilities also planned for the site will have the capacity needed to implement the Waste Management Plan for the North East.
Meath County Council granted planning permission, subject to 30 conditions, and close to 70 different parties appealed the decision to An Bord Pleanala which decided to hold an oral hearing.
Members of the No Incineration Alliance are among the main objectors.
Along with a number of local and Dáil elected representatives they are expected to be in attendance for the duration of the hearing.