Analysis:Several times over the past five months, Minister for the Environment John Gormley sent out smoke signals to An Bord Pleanála to the effect that Government policy on waste-management was about to change - in particular on incineration.
As a long-time campaigner against Dublin City Council's plan to locate a massive waste incinerator at Poolbeg in his own constituency, Gormley's views on this highly-contentious project were well-known.
Having a view is one thing though - policy is another.
The fact is that existing waste-management policy hasn't yet been changed to favour alternatives such as mechanical and biological treatment, much canvassed by the Minister.
So the appeals board had to make its decision in the current policy context.
Just as it approved equally controversial plans for incinerators at Ringaskiddy in Cork harbour and Carranstown near Drogheda, the board has now granted permission for the biggest one of all - a 600,000- tonne "waste-to-energy" plant at Poolbeg.
In a decision taken unanimously, the board even rejected a strong recommendation by Pádraig Thornton, one of its most experienced senior planning inspectors, that the plant's capacity should be limited to burning 500,000 tonnes of waste per annum.
One of its few concessions is that waste must be transported to Poolbeg via the M50 and Port Tunnel to avoid the nightmare scenario for local residents of hundreds of refuse trucks trundling through the maze of streets in Ringsend, Irishtown and Sandymount.
Significantly, however, the board specified that a "community gain fund" is to be established to support the development of local facilities, including a once-off contribution equivalent to 3 per cent of the capital cost and an annual contribution of €1 per tonne of waste.
However, those who oppose the incinerator are entitled to be sceptical about another major installation on the Poolbeg peninsula. After all, they have had to put up with the stench that frequently wafted over the area from the "state-of-the-art" sewage-treatment plant.
It was also planned as a public- private partnership (PPP) project, just like the planned waste-to-energy plant which is to be built, operated and maintained by a US-Danish consortium. So how can people have confidence that Murphy's Law won't intervene here too?
The answer is that they cannot. No cast-iron guarantees can be given that nothing will go wrong over the lifetime of the waste-to-energy plant. For that reason, it is difficult to imagine that hundreds of new apartments being planned for Poolbeg will sell like hot cakes.
Neither is it clear how the plant will "provide electricity for 50,000 homes and district heating for a further 60,000 homes".
Plugging into the ESB power station at Poolbeg would be no problem; providing pipework for district heating is not so easy.
The fact that the city council entered into a contract with Dublin Waste to Energy Ltd, a joint venture by Covanta Energy (US) and DONG Energy Generation (Denmark), in advance of An Bord Pleanála's decision indicated a certain degree of confidence in the outcome.
Given that the project has now been approved, Mr Gormley's freedom of action is limited - not least because any imposed decision to drop it now would almost certainly involve paying compensation to the PPP partners at a level equivalent to the profits they stand to make.
Assuming that the project goes ahead, it will lock the Dublin region into incineration as the principal way of disposing of residual waste for 25 years.
This is happening at a time when other more advanced European countries are actively looking at viable alternatives.