Ahern says waste problem is being dealt with

The Government is dealing "once and for all" with integral and illegal waste activities, the Taoiseach insisted as Sinn Féin disputed plans to build incinerators.

Mr Ahern told the Dáil that thermal treatment plants were a key element of modern waste strategy everywhere in the world, including the most environmentally-friendly countries.

He rejected a call by Mr Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (SF, Cavan-Monaghan) to have the manager of Dublin City Council withdraw plans for the Poolbeg incinerator. Councillors had rejected the proposed incinerator by 33 votes to three on Monday and Mr Ó Caoláin said most Fianna Fáil councillors were against the incinerator. The Taoiseach said the Government was committed to an "accelerated delivery" of all infrastructure necessary to "underpin economic growth".

Recycling had accelerated rapidly and Ireland's record "is one of the best in Europe. We have moved from being nowhere on the list to a very high level". The only thing Mr Ahern objected to was "the people who on one side want to oppose landfill sites and thermal treatment and do not really subscribe to recycling. They want to be against everything and for nothing."

Mr Ó Caoláin asked how Mr Ahern "squared" the Government's plan to "impose waste incinerators on communities throughout the State, despite concerns about pollution and the obvious risks to public health", and the opposition of Ministers Roche, Martin and McDowell to incinerators in their constituencies.

But Mr Ahern said that if Deputy Ó Caoláin's "scientific information is that the thermal treatment plants are not up to these international standards and he provides the evidence to me, I will have it examined".

Later Fine Gael's environment spokesman, Mr Fergus O'Dowd, said concerns about the health issues involved in incinerators were "genuine, sincere and widely held" and the Environmental Protection Agency was re- fusing to appoint representatives of the World Health Organisation at its oral hearings on incinerators. Mr Ahern said the WHO had dealt with these issues and was involved, as stipulated by the EPA.