A Dublin City Councillor has described Ringsend waste treatment plant as an “unmitigated disaster from day one.” It has caused significant inconvenience, discomfort and annoyance for the people of Ringsend and surrounding areas since it first began operating.

Sinn Féin Councillor Daithí Doolan was responding to publication of a Department of Environment-commissioned report into the operation of the plant.

The report has found that the projections for waste to be treated at the plant were massively underestimated. It found that there was poor monitoring of waste loads from trade licences and that there were ‘certain anomalies in the measurement of flow and load arriving at the plant.’

Councillor Doolan said: “This report vindicates Sinn Féin’s consistent position on this issue. It proves the folly of the public/ private partnership process that brought it into being. And it should act as a serious warning against those who want to use the same process to have an incinerator foisted on the people of this area.

“When private profit and not public need are to the fore in these types of project then corners will be cut and problems will be conveniently swept to one side. The fact that the bulk of the recommendations in this report relate to monitoring and measuring loads clearly indicates there are serious concerns about what was going on at the plant. This plant has already cost the city of Dublin millions and millions of euro. If it was a Council-run and controlled plant I don’t believe we would have had the problems we have had to date. I think it is imperative now that Dublin City manager make a full statement on the matter and the issues raised in the report.”