The 65m (213ft) stack of a waste incinerator in Carranstown, Co Meath will be visible from one of the three principal passage graves in the Boyne Valley, Mayor of Drogheda Gerald Nash claimed yesterday.
Cllr Nash also told the oral hearing by the Environmental Protection Agency into objections to licensing of the Indaver Ireland facility that the stack height had been increased by 25m (82ft) at the request of An Bord Pleanála but there has not been an assessment of the impact of this on the Boyne Valley which is a Unesco-designated world heritage site.
Cllr Nash said the members of Drogheda Borough Council believe the incinerator will increase the risk of persistent organic pollutants being deposited from atmospheric emissions and entering the food chain. If the aquifer underneath the site was to become contaminated, it would put the drinking water for the people of Drogheda at risk.
Tom Burke, of No Incinerator Alliance, said there was no way that future illnesses among people or animals could be traced back to dust and smoke expelled from the incinerator because there weren't comparable figures on toxic substances in the air before and after it was built.
Dr Fergal Callaghan, for Indaver Ireland, said residents in Carranstown would ingest more dioxins by eating food from supermarkets than they would by breathing the air around the incinerator. The hearing continues.