Dublin City Council gave public notice on 30 June 2006 of its intention to seek the approval of An Bord Pleanála to the development of a Waste to Energy Facility (Incinerator) and to make application to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a waste licence.

A copy of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is available for inspection at Dublin City Council offices during normal working hours. It is also available on line at http://www.dublinwastetoenergy.ie. Submissions or observations in relation to the proposal may be made during the period 3rd July 2006 to 4.30 pm on 2nd October 2006 to An Bord Pleanála, 64 Marlborough Street, Dublin 1.

With the planned incinerator now another step closer to becoming a reality the Council are confident that their ‘Waste to Energy’ project will soon be up and running.

The benefits of such a project, we are told, includes the prospect of recycling 600,000 tonnes of waste and converting it into enough electricity for 50,000 homes. 59% of all waste will be dealt with at the proposed incinerator which will conform to the highest of health and safety standards, as seen in cities right across the continent.

Whether or not this project will enjoy significant public support is far less of a certainty. Patricia Grimes, who lives in Clonskeagh but works at Butler’s Pantry in Donnybrook, is not a bit convinced. She worries about the health risks and would not like to live near any incinerator.

“They will be dealing with chemical waste, household waste, possibly hospital waste. I certainly wouldn’t like to live near an incinerator and if I were a resident I would fight very hard against it,” says Patricia.

“It’s a bad idea to place it inside a populated area. If I were living in a house and they built an incinerator down the road, what would my chances be of ever selling that house? None whatsoever. They can say whatever they want about it but it’s very rarely the truth.”

Bernard Mulligan, a Ranelagh native now in Ballsbridge, believes that the environment is going to cause us all many headaches in the coming years.

“I know they have to deal with the waste, and at the moment people are dumping their waste anywhere and anywhere,” says Bernard.

“The population is growing and we are going to have huge environmental problems with waste and water. They’re building too many apartments and ruining the countryside, but it’s all about the money. They’re happy to make it so long as they don’t have to spend it.”

Phyllis Lee, a long-time resident of Cranfield Place in Sandymount, is very unhappy with developments.

“I’m against the incinerator. How will we deal with the traffic? Sandymount is just a village,” she protests. “It will be 24 hours a day traffic with waste coming from all over the country when the incinerator is functioning. We can’t sustain that.”

Phyllis has little faith in the current political system. “The TDs say they don’t want it, Michael McDowell was supposed to be against it but he has stayed quiet. It’s all down to the city manager and whatever he decides goes from what I can understand. We seem to make a mess of everything in this country.”

Ann Colly of Bremen Ave in Irishtown shares her views. “I think it will go ahead but I hope not. We have enough chimneys down here and we don’t even know what’s coming out of them. Then you have Sellafied over the water. It’s just a total disaster area round here.”

She too has become disenchanted with the promises of those in power. “I don’t believe their assurances,” says Ann. “All they do is lie. You only have to look at the sewage plant and remember what they said about it being state-of-the-art and that there would be no smell coming from there. It’s worse now than it ever was and we’re three years waiting for something to be done. There’s no use going to the TDs because they will say anything to fob you off. Forget it.”

Martin Egan of Ringsend does not agree. He feels that something has to be done about all the waste being produced. “The rubbish has to go somewhere, it’s increasing all the time. I live in the flats nearby and I don’t object. It’s been working all right in Denmark and other countries so why can’t it work here?”

As Martin sees it, you can only rely on landfill so much. “You can’t keep putting rubbish in landfills, especially when the developers want to get their hands on it to build. The real problem is traffic and all the lorries coming up and down the road, which is very narrow and is going to see even more traffic when the incinerator comes. They should get rid of all these cars and bring back the horse and cart!”

Mary Murphy of Pearse St believes that the proposed incinerator is now all but inevitable. “Everybody is giving out about it but once the planning permission is granted it will all go ahead,” she says.

“There aren’t enough people out there fighting it and the TDs aren’t interested. There’ll be more traffic and they keep on building apartments at the same time. It won’t be worth living here soon.”

According to Mary the area needs huge infrastructural development but this is something which is rarely provided. “The only time they ever did anything round here was when Bertie came to open the sewage plant. Why don’t they put the incinerator where Bertie’s after building his new house? There’s a lovely bit of land there!”