Dublin City Council has voted overwhelmingly to block the development of a controversial waste incinerator at Poolbeg in Dublin .
The "mass-burn incinerator", which is in the pre-planning stages, was intended to serve both Dublin city and county with a capacity to deal with up to 500,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste a year.
The council passed motions, tabled by Sinn Féin and the Labour Party, opposing the incinerator by a majority of 32 to five, despite being told they were not in order by the city management.
The assistant city manager responsible for planning, Mr Seán Carey, told councillors that the council's law agent had advised that the motions conflicted with the county's waste management plan and were not in order.
However, the Lord Mayor, Mr Michael Conaghan, said that while he would normally give "weighty consideration" to the advice of the law agent, "in light of the public interest it would be remiss of us not to debate this".
Proposing the Sinn Féin motion, Cllr Daithí Doolan said its effect would be that any future industry at Poolbeg would have to be incineration free.
"Nobody is under any doubt that we do not face a waste management crisis, but simply building an incinerator in the Ringsend/Sandymount area will not provide us with the solution," Cllr Doolan said.
Former Labour lord mayor, Cllr Dermot Lacey, who spoke on his party's motion, said nowhere in the waste management plan was there an agreement for an incinerator at Poolbeg, or any incinerator in Dublin at all.
"This is part of the continuing approach to refuse demonstrated by the city manager and Minister Martin Cullen to impose incineration on the people of Dublin," he said.
The development of an incinerator at the site would result in "500 trucks trundling though the city" carrying refuse each day, he added.
Former deputy lord mayor, Cllr Deirdre Heney (Fianna Fáil), who voted against the motion, said neither Sinn Féin nor the Labour party had put forward any real alternative to the incinerator.
The city manager must now decide whether to accept the council's decision.
