CRAI, the Combined Residents Against Incinerator group, has objected to the proposed compulsory purchase order of land beside Irishtown Nature Park and to Dublin City Council's plan to use this land to site an incinerator. Their reasons for objecting are:
The health risks from the toxic material produced by incineration.
Dublin City Council has not given information as to what will happen to the toxic fly ash.
There will be a huge increase in traffic in the surrounding areas.
Incineration discourages people from recycling.
No environmental impact assessment has yet been carried out.
The lack of democracy in the Waste Management Act.

CRAI was formed by the resident associations in Bath Avenue and District, Ringsend and Irishtown, Oceanview, Sandymount and Merrion and South Lotts Road. For further information contact Frances Corr.

One residents point of view: The City Manager claims that the EU Directive on waste management requires him to build an incinerator to dispose of our household, commercial and industrial waste for which we must pay 'bin'charges. This is not strictly correct. The EU does require us to pay for waste disposal. It does not say that we must build incinerators. It says that we must put the emphasis on reduction/prevention of waste, re-use and recycling and that incineration should only be used for that waste that cannot be disposed of safely any other way.

The EU Head of Waste Management said: "The Commission does not promote incineration. We do not consider that this technique is favorable to the environment. Those countries which are in the process of drafting their planning should not base it on incineration."

Dublin City Council claims studies showed that the best place to put an incinerator is beside the Nature Park on the Poolbeg. No other sire in the Greater Dublin Region has ever been properly considered, even though this site adjoins public amenities and special exclusion zones.

The Community Interest Group of twenty individuals, some of whom lived outside our area, were not permitted to discuss those studies and it soon became clear that the CIG process was being misused to promote incineration and in particular an incinerator on the Poolbeg, under the guise of public consultation.

Most members eventually resigned because they did not wish to be considered as taking part in the promotion of an incinerator here. Our area already has more than its fair share of service industry and waste disposal facilities of the Greater Dublin Region. In local parlance 'our backyard is full' and the promised amenity land has not been provided.
The air we and our children breathe is already polluted by large volumes of traffic. The incinerator would bring even more heavy traffic into the area carrying waste of all kinds, including private , commercial and industrial waste, for a population of over one and a quarter million.

It is not just household refuse that they intent to incinerate. The Local Authority has not told us how it proposes to get rid of the highly toxic waste produced by incineration or how this is to be transported.

Sea mists are common here and will 'hold down' the gases from the chimneys in smog that would affect our health. Pollution from stored waste and toxic ash could run off into the sea in which our families swim and onto the beaches were our children play and picnic.
The Local Authority is now trying to CPO land for the incinerator, which will put Hibernian Molasses out of business, and advertising for a contractor to build and manage the plant. It has not been passed by local Councilors who have been told they no longer have any say in the matter. This is not democratic.

The public have not been told that the advertised site is only part of the land that is needed and that additional land will be taken up for storage of untreated waste and toxic ash, etc.
Neither have they been told that Dublin City Council is giving a 20 year contract with an option of another ten years for an increasing amount of waste as time passes. This is hardly waste reduction and makes nonsense of promises of five year reviews of waste management plans.