The Supreme Court has reserved judgment on an appeal by local residents against the High Court’s refusal to adjourn two legal challenges to the proposed €75 million development of the State’s first hazardous waste incinerator at Ringaskiddy, Co Cork.
The residents want the adjournments pending the outcome of a legal action brought against Ireland in the European Court of Justice (ECJ) by the European Commission based on the Commission's formal view that Ireland has failed to properly transpose into Irish law an EC directive relating to the environmental impact assessment of public and private projects, including incinerators.
Among the grounds on which the residents initially challenged the proposed incinerator development is that the same EC directive was not properly transposed.
The High Court last month refused to adjourn the challenges and the five judge Supreme Court today heard the appeal against that refusal and reserved its decision.
The State has argued the High Court was bound at this stage by a Supreme Court decision last year rejecting a challenge by Eric Martin to the development of an incinerator in Co Meath.
In the Martin case, the Supreme Court dismissed claims that the EIA Directive was not properly transposed and also refused Mr Martin's request to refer to the ECJ the issue of whether the directive was properly transposed.
In refusing to adjourn the challenges, Mr Justice McCarthy ruled he was bound by the Supreme Court ruling in the Martin case as that decision meant domestic law was "unambiguously" to the effect that the directive was validly transposed into Irish law.
The first set of proceedings sought to be adjourned is a judicial review challenge by several local people to the incinerator development brought against An Bord Pleanála and the State following the board's decision on January 15th 2004 granting permission to Indaver NV, trading as Indaver Ireland, to construct the development.
In the second proceedings, the Ringaskiddy and District Residents Association are seeking leave from the court to bring proceedings against the Environmental Protection Agency and the State arising from the EPA's decision to grant a waste licence for the development.
The incinerator is intended to handle up to 100,000 tonnes of hazardous and non-hazardous industrial and commercial waste annually.
