EPA told incinerator will pose threat to health

A PROPOSED waste incinerator will pose a further threat to the health of residents of the Ringsend area of Dublin in a suburb that had already suffered considerable pollution, an oral hearing of the Environmental Protection Agency was told yesterday.

Objectors to the controversial incinerator planned for the Poolbeg peninsula claim no study has ever been carried out to establish if existing industries in the area could be responsible for a high incidence of cancer and respiratory problems among young people from Ringsend.

The oral hearing is being held by the EPA to listen to objections and concerns about its proposed decision to license Dublin City Council to operate a non-hazardous waste incinerator at Poolbeg.

Last November, the EPA announced its intention to grant a licence for the controversial incinerator, which would process up to 600,000 tonnes of waste per annum.

An Bord Pleanála has already separately granted permission to Dublin City Council to construct and operate the waste-to-energy project on behalf of all four local authorities in the capital.

However, Ringsend residents claim the plant will also cause huge traffic problems in an already congested, built-up area, by adding 30,000 extra truck movements each year.

Resident John Hawkins said people living in Ringsend were regarded as “a soft touch” by Dublin City Council because of the large number of facilities operating in the area that appeared to be the source of various types of pollution, including a sewage treatment plant, a cement factory and a dump.

Mr Hawkins said six young men from a local rowing club had already died from cancer, while a six-year-old girl from the area had developed a stomach tumour.

Damien Cassidy of the Ringsend-Irishtown Combined Residents Association said their opposition to the incinerator had also received support from the European Parliament’s petitions committee, which had expressed reservations about the suitability of the Poolbeg site.

The inquiry’s chairperson, Marie O’Connor, said the EPA had received a total of 14 objections including submissions from local residents and community associations as well as representatives of several political parties, including Labour, Sinn Féin and the Green party.

However, Ms O’Connor said the hearing, which is expected to last several weeks, could not revisit decisions taken by the planning authorities or examine government policy on waste management.

Dublin City Council assistant manager Matt Twomey said the incinerator was a vital element of Dublin’s integrated waste management plan.

He claimed the facility would provide electricity for 50,000 homes as well as district heating for 60,000 homes in the Poolbeg area.

Mr Twomey said the local authorities were obliged under EU directives to divert waste from landfill to waste-to-energy facilities.

Irish Examiner

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