MINISTER FOR the Environment John Gormley has accepted that he was not in a position to intervene directly in the process surrounding the controversial waste incinerator in Dublin.
The Green Party leader was responding to the decision by the Environmental Protection Agency to grant a licence to Dublin City Council for the incinerator at Poolbeg, which is in his own constituency of Dublin South East.
"The proposal for this incinerator dates back more than a decade to 1996," he said. "There are no effective provisions within current waste-management law or policy which would enable me to intervene directly in a PPP [public-private partnership] project which began more than a decade ago and where tenders were approved two years before I took office."
Mr Gormley, who has campaigned against the incinerator at Poolbeg for many years, dismissed the suggestion that he had failed in his efforts in Government to prevent incineration projects, such as at Poolbeg. He said fundamental reviews of waste-management policy at a national level would ensure a shift away from incineration.
He cautioned Dublin City Council and other local authorities that it would be "unwise" to proceed with any major incinerator process until an international review of waste-management policy commissioned by him - focused on a shift away from incineration - had been completed, probably by the middle of next year.
Mr Gormley also listed interim measures, such as restricting local authorities from directing waste to incinerators or landfill and placing caps on the volume of waste that could be incinerated.
Asked whether, despite his stated opposition, he was powerless in Government to prevent incineration projects, he insisted: "I have argued that we don't need the number of incinerators put forward in all the regional plans. That issue will be addressed. That issue will be addressed in the strategic environmental assessment and also in the international review."
He said there was a "confidence problem" in Dublin City Council. Referring to the controversy over odours from the waste-water treatment plant, also in Poolbeg, he added: "[Residents] have seen the debacle in relation to waste-water treatment. They don't want a repeat."
Fine Gael's local TD Lucinda Creighton described yesterday's decision by the EPA as "madness".
"This is a bizarre decision from an organisation that is supposed to protect our environment. The only option now, besides an astronomically expensive trip to the High Court, is for Minister Gormley to stop this project going ahead."
Ms Creighton claimed he had sat on his hands.
Labour's Ruairí Quinn, also Dublin South East, said Mr Gormley needed to show his Green credentials and fund a judicial review of the decision. "He could have used his powers as a Minister to put a stop to the incinerator. This really is his last chance to act. If he doesn't, he will be to blame if this incinerator is built."
Martin Ferris of Sinn Féin said Mr Gormley needed to explain how the EPA decision could possibly contribute to the protection of the environment.
