The decision by Meath County Council to grant Indaver Ireland permission to increase by one third the amount of waste it can incinerate at its plant at Carranstown, just outside Drogheda, is to be appealed to An Bord Pleanála.
Yesterday morning the company confirmed it had been notified of the decision. It will now be able to accept up to 200,000 tonnes a year, an increase of 50,000 tonnes on that granted by An Bord Pleanála.
The No Incineration Alliance, an umbrella group of opponents to incineration, indicated they would appeal the decision. They said they were particularly disappointed that the council granted permission as it had been able to consider health, environmental and other concerns in assessing this application, something it was unable to do at the time of the original application due to legislation in force then.
The permission is subject to 32 conditions including one that specifies the waste "shall primarily be waste generated and produced in the northeast region area of counties Meath, Louth, Cavan and Monaghan and shall have regard to the proximity principle".
The Carranstown site is three miles from Drogheda, Co Louth, and the planners in Co Meath were accused by one Louth county councillor of allowing Carranstown to become "a dumping ground for the rest of the country".
"The sad reality now is that the people of the Drogheda area will have to deal with the effects of the burning of not just their own waste, but that of the capital's too," added Cllr Gerald Nash.
A spokesman for the No Incineration Alliance said the site location "is on top of a huge regional aquifer which supplies water to a lot of people in the northeast region". He said it seemed "foolish in the extreme to approve planning for a plant like this in case there is a leak into the water table".
The cross-Border heritage and environment lobby group, Battle for the Boyne forum, said: "This is an act of cultural vandalism as the chimney stack will be visible from the World Heritage site at Brú na Boinne."
A spokesman said they also feared the emissions could damage the megalithic art at Knowth. The group is also to appeal the decision.
John Ahern, managing director of Indaver Ireland, said: "We are delighted with the council's decision. From an initial assessment, the planning conditions appear to be workable. However, we will review each condition in more detail over the next couple of days."
Indaver also said it "confirms that the proposed facility is in line with the new northeast waste management plan and reinforces the region's decision to include incineration as part of a modern waste management system".
The company no longer plans to recycle any materials at the site although one of the conditions requires it to fund "a community recycling park benefiting development in the vicinity".