Madam, – Your correspondent DK Henderson asks for enlightenment as to the role of a Government Minister regarding the proposed incinerator at Poolbeg. I am happy to oblige him.
The Rainbow Coalition government in 1996 passed a Waste Management Act allowing for incineration. In 1998, Dublin City Council voted for a waste management plan which included incineration.
At every stage of its life through the planning process John Gormley has opposed the Poolbeg incinerator. As Minister, he is prevented from interfering in the planning and licensing regimes put in place by the Oireachtas.
However, he is working to promote alternative solutions to our waste problem. Hopefully, we will reduce the amount of waste available for incineration to such a level that the incinerator will be rendered irrelevant, and exposed as the danger to the environment and to human health that John Gormley always believed it to be. – Yours, etc,