VOTERS IN the Dublin South East constituency received a letter yesterday from Green Party leader John Gormley informing them that it was clear the proposed Poolbeg incinerator “cannot go ahead” because of new levies that would be introduced.
The letter, signed by Mr Gormley as minister for the environment, was delivered to homes in Sandymount yesterday morning, a day after Mr Gormley had resigned as Minister and the Greens had pulled out of Government.
A spokesman for Mr Gormley said last night the letters were posted well over a week beforehand to homes in Sandymount and Ringsend, but some of them must have been delayed in the post.
Rejecting as a “conspiracy theory” any suggestion the letters were sent out after the break-up of Government as an electioneering device, he said Mr Gormley wrote and arranged for postal delivery of the letters when the Greens were still in Government and Mr Gormley was still the Minister. “Usually they would be arranged a week or two weeks in advance and automatically sent out.”
Another source confirmed last night that copies of the letter were received in homes elsewhere in the constituency last week.
In the letter Mr Gormley informs constituents that he has just published new legislation that will introduce levies on incineration for the first time. “This Bill will be introduced into the Dáil in the coming weeks,” he adds.
He says he is aware of “claims in the media” that the US company contracted to build the incinerator will pull out of the project when the levies are introduced, but this will not affect his determination to introduce the levies, which are “urgently required”.
Mr Gormley writes that he has always been opposed to the incinerator as it would undermine the development of a more sustainable waste policy in Ireland.
“This new waste policy will be published shortly, as well as the Hennessy Report, an independent analysis which I commissioned on the contract for the Poolbeg incinerator.
“It is clear that the proposed incinerator cannot go ahead. The new international waste review highlights [a] more sustainable way of dealing with our waste. And this is the policy which our local authorities will now have to pursue,” the letter states.
Mr Gormley’s spokesman said that at the time the letter was sent the indication was that the legislation – the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011 – would go ahead, be enacted, and be implemented before the dissolution of the Dáil. It would now be up to a new government to implement the legislation.
A spokesman for the Department of the Environment said the Bill would not now progress in the Dáil and Seanad because of the collapse of the Coalition.