There were 22 valid objections/ submissions to An Bord Pleanála in the matter of the application by Dublin City Council for the Waste to Energy Plant, the Incinerator on the Poolbeg.

The board’s decision to permit the plant, which would incinerate some 780 thousand tonnes of waste per annum, was made in the last week in August 2007, with appellants notified.

On foot of the decision, on 21st November, appellants were contacted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) informing them of a draft decision to grant a Waste Licence to Dublin City Council to carry on Licensed Waste Disposal Activities subject to twelve conditions, and also to inform of the appellants’ right to object to the Grant of the License.

The License in question is an Integrated Pollution Prevention Control License (an IPPC Licence), which is necessary for many industrial activities where there is a possibility of pollution of earth, water or air.

Under section 42 of the Waste Management Act of 1996 and 2007 any person could object at any time up to 18th December 2007 and could also ask for an Oral Hearing to be held. This avenue of approach to objection would cost fees of €200 for written submissions and €300 if the objection included a request for an Oral Hearing.

As far as can be ascertained there were twenty objections made from the earlier twenty-two appellants to An Bord Pleanala, with some eight of those requesting an Oral Hearing. Among that eight, requests for an oral hearing came from both groups and individuals.

Group objectors include the Labour Party, the Green Party, Sinn Féin, CRAI (the Combined Residents Against the Incinerator), Sandymount and Merrion Residents’ Association, (SAMRA), Ringsend, Irishtown and Sandymount Environmental Group.

In line with what is being carried out in Cork, with regard to the granting of permission for a Hazardous Waste Incinerator in the Harbour the CHASE ALLIANCE (Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment), CRAI on January 23rd 2008 through its spokesperson Frances Corr, Company Secretary, announced that it is now applying for a Judicial Review of the process wherein An Bord Pleanála arrived at the decision to grant permission for the Incinerator on the Poolbeg.

CRAI will be seeking sympathetic support from the public since such a review, if granted, could cost many thousands of pounds for expert opinion. It is similar to a High Court action with similar costs.

In papers lodged on 23rd January 2008 as the first step of the Judicial Review, CRAI said that Ireland had failed to transpose into Irish law the obligations laid down under directives of the EC. The action taken is against the Minister for the Environment, Mr. John Gormley, Dublin City Council, An Bord Pleanála and the Attorney General. CRAI says it is entitled to have access to a review procedure to challenge the legality of the decision made by An Bord Pleanála in granting planning permission for the construction of a Municipal Incinerator on the Pooolbeg

Another hurdle to be cleared for DCC is the requirement for permission to generate electricity from the burning of the waste. The electricity generated will supply power for some 50,000 homes, according to the developers.
One of the conditions of the EPA licence stipulates that the City Council would have to employ someone with a qualification and a minimum of 10 years experience in Incinerator operations to run the facility.

However, in an objection lodged on December 16th last the Council argued the majority of activities in a waste to energy plant were similar to those at a power station and that a person with power station experience would be sufficiently qualified to run the Incinerator.

The City Council Management objection stated that ‘Substantial experience has shown that individuals with power plant experience have become qualified as waste to energy plant managers when special training on Incinerator operations is provided prior to assuming the position of facility manager’.

The City Council have also objected to a condition that states that the Incinerator plant must include a materials recovery process that would be capable of filtering out any material that could be recycled.