A former lord mayor of Dublin has urged Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan to “call a halt to the whole project” of building a municipal waste incinerator on the Poolbeg peninsula.
Dermot Lacey, Labour Party leader on Dublin City Council, said all the officials who had pushed the €350 million project over the years should be invited to “take up gardening” (ie, early retirement).
“Dublin Bay is an incredible asset that any half-decent country would respect,” he said. “If we are to have an incinerator, it should be located on a main route to the outskirts of the city – probably along the M50.”
Mr Lacey’s call follows a decision by Dublin City Council management to extend yet again a deadline for its prospective private sector partner, US waste management company Covanta, to show that it could fund the project. Covanta had earlier been given a fourth and “final deadline” of August 31st with a view of construction of the incinerator starting by November 1st, but this has now been extended for four to six weeks.
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