The Minister for the Environment, Mr Roche, has said he would probably act in a similar manner to the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, who has opposed the building of an incinerator in his constituency, if he was faced with similar circumstances himself.
On the day the Minister launched a public campaign promoting incinerators as being safe and environmentally friendly, he was also quoted as saying he would adopt a similar attitude to Mr McDowell if an incinerator was planned for his Wicklow constituency.
Mr McDowell has been to the fore in a campaign against the construction of a municipal waste incinerator in Ringsend, and is believed to have been trenchantly opposed to the inclusion of incinerators in a list of infrastructures for fast track planning in new legislation.
In an interview for an RTÉ Prime Time documentary on the waste crisis and illegal waste activity last night, Mr Roche said Mr McDowell was acting in the interests of his constituents, but that his concerns were not necessarily about the Government and its incineration policy.
"He has to represent their concerns, of course, he has to," he said.
"When I actually go and make representations, which I frequently do, on issues within his area of ministerial competence, it doesn't mean I am disagreeing with the overall policy."
Asked whether he would welcome an incinerator in his constituency, Mr Roche replied:
"Well the matter hasn't arisen and probably I would be no different than Michael McDowell in defending the interests of my constituents. I'm prepared to be honest about that."
He rejected that through Government policy, which recommends a network of incinerators around the country, he was imposing incinerators on other communities.
"I am not imposing anything on any constituency. What I'm saying is that we need to have a better debate than we have had."
Mr Roche's comments were aired on the day he launched a leaflet aimed at allaying health and environment concerns about new generation incinerators, as part of the Race Against Waste campaign.
He said he accepted that "for many people incineration is a problem".