An international study of the health and environmental effects of incineration in Ireland would be commissioned by Fine Gael in government under a new strategy on waste disposal announced by the party yesterday. The proposals were launched in Cork by the party leader, Mr Michael Noonan.
Fine Gael's spokeswoman on Environmental and Consumer Protection, Ms Deirdre Clune, said the Government's strategy on waste had failed and a new, radical approach was necessary if Ireland was to avoid the humiliation of being dragged before the European Court of Justice to comply with EU directives.
Ms Clune said the party, in government, would immediately commission a detailed and definitive health and environmental study on the impact of an incineration programme for Ireland. Its aim would be to inform public opinion as to the safety or otherwise of such facilities throughout the State.
The study would also review the standards and procedures set out in EU waste incineration directives in order to determine if they were strict enough for Ireland.
A health study would further be commissioned at the direction of the Minister for Health and this would avail of the best biochemical and toxicological expertise in the country to review the international evidence on the health risks of dioxin arising from modern incinerators.
Fine Gael proposed a National Waste Management Authority, whose function would be to implement a national programme of recycling, reuse and waste management in conjunction with local authorities throughout the State and through the development of a comprehensive waste management infrastructure.
Ms Clune said that despite Government rhetoric, of the two million tonnes of municipal waste generated in Ireland in 1998, 91 per cent was consigned to landfill and only 9 per cent was recycled, of which the household fraction was only 3.2 per cent.
Under the new authority, Fine Gael was proposing a major capital investment programme in recycling infrastructure through public-private partnership projects.
She also said Fine Gael believed that the Moneypoint coal-burning electricity station should be converted to natural gas with a capacity in excess of 800 mgwts.