A hearing into an application for the State's first municipal waste incinerator began in Co Louth today.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is hosting oral hearings in Drogheda for the proposed incinerator at Carranstown, Co Meath. The plant has received planning permission, but it will also need an EPA waste licence if it is to operate.
The hearings are expected to last two weeks with a decision in four months.
The €80 million development, if fully licensed, will take take up to 150,000 tonnes of non-hazardous waste a year or the equivalent of a large landfill.
Locals are opposed to the plant on the basis of emissions of cancer-causing compounds from the incineration process.
The No Incineration Alliance, which will be at the hearing, has also called into question the appointment of Ms Laura Burke to the EPA last year by then minister for the environment Martin Cullen.
Ms Burke is a former manager at Indaver Ireland, the company that is proposing to build the incinerator.
The EPA said Ms Burke would not be involved in the decisions regarding her recent employer's projects.
Indaver said at the start of today's hearing that it was hopeful the licence would be granted and rejected accusations that health concerns had not been addressed.
Incineration is likely to be high on the list of issues for voters in the upcoming byelection in Co Meath, with the two main Opposition parties against the facility.
Fine Gael candidate Shane McEntee warned that the oral hearing will not consider health issues, even though the health impact of the incinerator has not been fully established.
"The single biggest worry about this incinerator is its potential impact on human health, yet the authorities aren't interested in examining the evidence," Mr McEntee said in a statement.
"The Environmental Impact Statement submitted by the incinerator's developers, Indaver, skirts over the health implications. In fact, it devotes more attention to the impact the incinerator will have on badgers, than on any potential damage to human health.
"Even more worrying is the fact that health monitoring systems proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency
will not be sufficient to guarantee the health of people living near Carronstown. The EPA does not have any qualified health professional on its staff, and it will not be monitoring the food chain in the area," he said.
Labour's candidate, Cllr Dominic Hannigan, said the proposal runs contrary to the principles of reduction, recycle and reuse, "which should be the cornerstone of an effective waste management policy".
In his submission to the hearing, Cllr Hannigan said: "We do not believe that the technology involved is sustainable or warranted in Ireland, and that there are several unanswered questions relating to its impact in terms of atmospheric pollution, the dispersal of dioxins and other matters".
Green Party candidate for Co Meath Fergal O'Byrne was joined by party leader Trevor Sargent and supporters at a protest outside the hearing. He said incineration would "damage Ireland's agriculture, tourism and food industries".
He said a "huge cloud of worry lies over the community in Meath over the proposal to site an incinerator at Carranstown.
"If individual incinerators get the go-ahead they will sound the death knell for local agriculture and will be a cause for serious health concerns among local people."
Last Thursday, hearings ended into the State's first commercial toxic waste incinerator at Ringaskiddy, Co Cork.