Roscommon County Council has rejected by a large majority the draft Connacht waste management plan, which provides for an incinerator and superdump in the province. The rejection of the plan followed a strong local campaign organised by environmental and farming groups.
Twenty of the 23 councillors present voted to "reject absolutely thermal treatment or incineration and landfill sites in Co Roscommon", while recognising positive elements in the plan on recycling and waste minimisation.
Councillors feared that the rejection by Galway Corporation and Galway County Council of aspects of the plan (in particular, the recommended siting of an incinerator in Galway) meant that such a facility could be located in Roscommon instead.
The majority of councillors from all parties called for greater Government support for recycling to deal with the 55,000 tonnes of rubbish produced in the county each year.
At a meeting of the council in July, all but one Fianna Fail councillor voted to adopt the plan, but Fine Gael and Independent councillors succeeded in deferring a decision until submissions could be made by campaigners opposed to it.
At yesterday's meeting, Fianna Fail councillors said they were now in "a completely new situation" since the votes by Galway Corporation and County Council. Both Sligo and Leitrim County Councils have already adopted the plan and Mayo is to vote on it in October.
More than 100 protesters, including delegations from the Irish Farmers' Association and the Roscommon Environmental Alliance, picketed the courthouse in Roscommon town where the meeting was held.
Councillors heard submissions from Mr P.J. Rudden, of MC O'Sullivan Consultants, who drew up the plan; Mr Jack O'Sullivan, of Environmental Services Management; and Mr Gerry Browne, of the Roscommon Environmental Alliance.
Mr Browne said his group rejected the plan in its entirety because it was based on an incinerator and a superdump. He said an incinerator would need to take all the waste of Connacht in order to be viable and that this would "stifle any meaningful recycling effort". Mr Rudden said he did not understand why people in Roscommon felt threatened by the waste management plan. He said the record on recycling in Ireland was "dismal" and that he didn't know how the targets of more than 40 per cent included in the plan would be achieved.
Mr Rudden said an incinerator would not be located in Co Roscommon, nor was it intended to locate a landfill in the county. "We are not going to bring the mountain to Muhammad. Half of the waste in Connacht is from Galway," he said. He added that the decision of both local authorities in Galway was now under legal review. Speaking in favour of recycling, Mr O'Sullivan said he was concerned that the plan was based on increasing waste volumes rather than decreasing them. He said he did not believe the plan addressed the long-term costs of thermal treatment or its public health consequences.
Roscommon county manager Mr Eddie Sheehy said there was no proposal whatsoever to site an incinerator in Co Roscommon. He had sympathy for councillors who had been subjected to misinformation and pressure over recent months. He said it would not be feasible to deal with the refuse issue on a county basis.