Sir, - My thanks go to Michael Purser (June 8th) for pointing out that MEPs have either managed to gloss over or ignore key issues - the decisions on which will directly affect our lives in Ireland. I would like to highlight another area that has been successfully avoided by these same MEPs and that is the crisis in municipal and hazardous waste management in Ireland.
The proposed plan, from a private company called Thermal Waste Management (Ireland) Ltd, for a hazardous waste incinerator in Kilcock, Co Kildare, pre-empts the release of a national strategy for the same. What is the position of the MEPs on this matter?
The World Health Organisation has confirmed that incinerators are the major avoidable cause of dioxins in the environment and that dioxins are known carcinogens. Dioxins are the very same contaminant that has caused the Belgian food crisis. The Irish Food Safety Authority, in a press release on June 2nd, also acknowledges the link between incineration, dioxin contamination in the food chain, and cancer. Do our MEPs agree with incineration? Can Ireland afford a food crisis on the scale of Belgium if our food becomes contaminated? We need answers and we need them now. - Yours, etc.,
Louise Hadden, Moyglare Abbey, Maynooth, Co Kildare.