A waste management plan for the south-east which includes incineration has been rejected by Wexford County Council. Councillors voted by 13 to seven yesterday to throw out the plan after being told that a health study on the effects of incineration, commissioned by the Department of the Environment, was not yet completed.
The council is the second of the six local authorities in the south-east to reject the controversial 20- year strategy, drawn up last year by consultants Fehily Timoney & Co.
It proposes that an incinerator, with an annual capacity of 150,000 tonnes, be built at a location yet to be identified. Kilkenny, Carlow and South Tipperary county councils, as well as Waterford City Council, have all adopted the plan. County councillors in Waterford also rejected it. County managers can overturn the councillors' decisions, so the plan may still be adopted despite the opposition in Wexford and Waterford.
A spokesman for a group campaigning against incineration, however, said the authorities should take heed of yesterday's vote and draw up an alternative waste-management plan. Mr Michael Prendergast of the New Ross-based Research and Information Group said the councillors' stance should be respected.
"This is the second time that Wexford County Council has said no to incineration and the last time it was ignored," he said. "How long will they keep using taxpayers' money to try to push incineration on to a community that does not want it?"
Representatives of the Irish Farmers Association who attended yesterday's meeting welcomed the councillors' decision. Mr J.J. Kavanagh, chairman of the IFA's Wexford branch, said farmers were seriously concerned about dioxin emissions from the proposed incinerator.
Wexford was particularly vulnerable because it relied heavily on agriculture, with 30 per cent of jobs in the county dependent to some degree on the sector.
Two IFA representatives accompanied a delegation of councillors and officials who travelled to Denmark last week to view an incinerator at Hoersholm, as well as other waste-management facilities including a restored landfill and civic amenity site.
Mr Eamonn Hore, a senior engineer with the council, told the meeting the exercise had been "very worthwhile". The incinerator at Hoersholm processed just over 100,000 tonnes of waste a year, so was similar in size to the facility proposed for the south-east. In its three to four years in operation, it had not breached EU dioxin emission limits.
Mr Padge Reck, an independent councillor, said he had visited two incinerators in London last week, at the council's expense. London Waste in Edmonton was 30 years in operation and most of the employees had worked there since it was opened. "They were all very healthy and well as far as I could see. They all enjoyed their work."
The second facility, SELCHP, close to the Millwall football ground, was a modern one, and from a health point of view he could see nothing wrong. "Flowers were in full bloom and there were none of them of dying or anything like that." He carried out extensive investigations and interviewed local people as well as management and staff.
Mr Michael D'Arcy of Fine Gael, however, said his party would be voting against the waste plan if the Department's health study was not available. It had been promised in February, he said.
Mr Brendan Howlin TD of Labour said it was unreasonable to ask councillors to take a decision that would have a long-term impact when the health data promised by the Department was "a matter of weeks away". However, the county manager, Mr Séamus Dooley, said the council was operating to a deadline that was "part of a legislative process".
Fine Gael councillors and Labour's only member, Mr Howlin, all voted against the plan. It was supported by Fianna Fáil with the exception of two councillors, Mr Jimmy Curtis, the council chairman, and Mr Séamus Whelan, who also voted against. The independents were also divided, with Mr Reck and Mr Seán Doyle supporting the plan and Mr Leo Carthy rejecting it.