A waste incinerator proposed for Co Meath will be built on an aquifer that supplies drinking water for 100,000 people, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hearing on the Indaver Ireland facility heard yesterday.
The hearing also heard from the general manager of Indaver Ireland, John Ahern, that it was possible the incinerator could take waste from counties other than those in the northeast region.
The €85 million plant is to be built on a greenfield site at Carranstown on the Louth- Meath border and will have the capacity to incinerate 150,000 tonnes of household and commercial waste a year.
It was granted planning permission by An Bord Pleanála, which held an oral hearing into objections to it. The board voted to grant permission despite the recommendation of the planning inspector who chaired the hearing that it be refused.
One of the conditions is that it takes waste originating in the counties of Louth, Meath, Cavan and Monaghan only.
Among the opponents is Drogheda resident James Behan, who brought his five-month-old daughter, Aideen, to the hearing.
He said he hopes to tell the hearing he opposes the incinerator "because of the health and environmental effects on my daughter's life. We will be downwind of the incinerator, and she will be subjected to its effects for the next 30 years".
Opening the hearing yesterday in the Boyne Valley Hotel, chairwoman Marie O'Connor said it would not revisit the decision of the planning authorities or debate Government policy. Submissions must relate to the remit of the EPA and be directly related to the Indaver Ireland project.
The first submission was from Mr Ahern, who acknowledged that a lot of people were concerned about possible health implications not taken into account during the planning deliberations.
However, he said the World Health Organisation (WHO) had stated that "properly managed, modern incineration plants do not pose any threat to human health".
Local resident Tom Burke said there was an aquifer at Carranstown, and he asked Mr Ahern whether any incinerator has ever been built on a regionally important aquifer before.
Mr Burke claimed that any accident at the Carranstown plant would "eliminate" this water supply for 100,000 people in east Meath and south Drogheda, and there was no other aquifer available to replace it.
He asked if the EPA was prepared to risk the lives of people for five to six generations to come in order to facilitate Indaver Ireland.
Mr Ahern said the incinerator would not affect the aquifer, and the company had evidence to support this.
Pat O'Brien, of the No Incineration Alliance, said to build an incinerator at such a location was "environmental madness".
Responding, Mr Ahern said he could not conceive of any accident that would have an impact on the aquifer, and that dioxins would not have an impact on an aquifer. Hugh O'Neill, director of health with Newry and Mourne District Council, said it was 40km and directly upwind from the chimney stack.
"The council contends that there is a real possibility that inhabitants of this district will be subjected over time to exposure to unacceptable levels of dioxins and particulate matter if this licence is so granted."
He said no provision was made to assess the impact in his local authority area "of such a major industrial plant".
The council has not ruled out legal action in the European courts to stop the incinerator, he said.