Galway protesters oppose incineration

A Galway environmental group has accused the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, of allowing the waste crisis in the city and county to develop as a way of forcing councillors to accept the controversial Connacht Waste Management Plan.

Hundreds of people marched through Galway city centre on Saturday afternoon carrying placards and banners. They converged on Eyre Square to take part in a protest rally against incineration organised by Galway for a Safe Environment.

Meanwhile, members of Galway Corporation have been urged to pass the waste management plan, which they are due to consider at their meeting tonight, as domestic and commercial waste continues to pile up around the city.

There will be pressure on the Fianna Fail and Progressive Democrat members of Galway Corporation to push the waste management plan through unaltered. The plan provides for an incinerator in the city and a "superdump" in the county.

There have been no refuse collection services in Galway since last Thursday and householders have been advised that there will be no collection today.

Galway Chamber of Commerce and Industry has warned that the growing waste crisis in the city and county could lead to job losses as well as presenting a serious health hazard. Major companies face problems in moving waste material.

The Waste Contractors' Association has said that the support of the Minister of the Environment and the local authorities is crucial to resolving the impasse. The association stated: "We have several alternative waste management projects in the planning and licensing process, but in the interim we rely on the local authorities to provide adequate waste management infrastructure."

The chairman of GFSE, Mr Conchur O Bradaigh, said that the city councillors would have to reconsider the Connacht Waste Management Plan which both they and the county council had unanimously rejected.

He said that both local authorities had been frustrated by Mr Dempsey, who had blocked efforts to find an alternative waste plan for Galway city and county. He accused the Minister of trying to force a U-turn on the decision to reject the plan.

Mr O Bradaigh added: "I believe the crisis, as they call it, was actually contrived. Why wait until last Wednesday night, the night before the Poolboy landfill site was to stop accepting refuse from the city, for the first face-to-face meeting between the councils and Ballinasloe Urban District Council?"

He asked why the kerbside refuse segregation scheme, due to have been introduced in the city last October, had still not begun. He said that 600 households in Renmore, which had taken part in a pilot recycling programme, had managed over three months to divert 75 per cent of waste away from landfill. O Bradaigh called for a nationwide study on the levels of dioxins in Ireland through the analysis of breast milk. He said that only then would it be possible to assess the risks which increased exposure to incineration dioxins would bring.

Mr Sean Gavin, of Galway Safe Waste Alliance, said that a new, safe waste plan was being drawn up as an alternative to the Connacht Waste Management Plan. This plan would feature maximum recycling and a landfill site in a safe area away from people's homes, but it would not include an incinerator.

He added: "I know the councillors are under pressure to accept the plan because Roscommon, Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim all accepted it. Of course they did. All their waste would be taken to an incinerator in Galway and the ashes would be dumped in east Galway. We are not going to be the laughing stock of Connacht."