It is a slow Saturday afternoon in the village of Ringsend. The temperature is comfortably mild and the sun is making a welcome appearance through long, white, threading clouds, basking momentarily the ground below in a cool spring warmth. On a bright day like today the sky above is that blue blue of warmer summer skies.

Outside the Ringsend Technical Institute on Cambridge Road some hundred and fifty people have gathered. Young and old, male and female, good and good they are there to protest at the proposed construction of an incinerator in Dublin Bay.

They carry placards with slogans that express in a few words their opposition to this proposed development. To one side of the gathering there are eight members of the Garda Siochana, keeping an eye on proceedings and controlling oncoming traffic. The people assembled outside plan to march down to Boland’s Mills.

Inside the Technical Institute is the scoping session for the Environmental Impact Statement. In here there is information available in the form of leaflets and pamphlets regarding the ‘Dublin waste to energy project’ brackets incinerator close brackets.

There are corporate people on hand to answer any questions the citizen might have concerning any and every aspect of incinerators and incineration as a viable and environmentally-sound method of waste management and energy production for their local area.

The Danish company Elsam that has been offered the contract for the operation of the incinerator is represented among the specialists. They stand in front of detailed representations of incinerators that also show how the waste cycle occurs.

Wall displays depict front, side and rear elevations of incinerators. On the cover of some pamphlets there are photographs of giant incinerators with swans swimming in the foreground. The swans look okay.

Outside, the demonstration march begins to wind itself towards Boland’s Mills. At the head are the Labour Party and a large Labour party banner. On reaching the Mill, members of CRAI (Combined Residents against Incineration) speak out against the proposed incinerator through a microphone and amplifier. Some local politicians also speak. The cars and trucks passing by honk their horns in encouragement.

Not long after the march reaches the mill and the speakers have begun the skies darken and the temperature drops. The cloud overhead curls grey and thickens and with it comes Irish rain.
The gathering and speakers persevere for a little while longer, doughty and resolute under the sudden downpour. Until that is everyone who has taken part in the protest march is thanked and the day’s participants dissolve to where.