€10.5m already spent on proposed Dublin incinerator

Dublin City Council has spent €10.5 million to date on the proposed incinerator at Poolbeg in Ringsend even though it has not yet applied for planning permission for the facility.

The council intends to seek permission from An Bord Pleanála for the incinerator at the end of this month. However, it has already spent more than €10 million on the project, which may not be approved by the board.

Almost all of the money has gone to private consultants, the council said. Consultants have been mainly involved in promoting the project to the public as well as preparing the planning application. A smaller amount was spent on advertising posters and public notices.

The council said it was not in a position to disclose future expenditure because "this will be largely influenced by whether the planning and licensing applications are successful". Should the facility get permission, the final costs will also be dependent on conditions imposed by An Bord Pleanála, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Commission for Energy Regulation.

There has been opposition to the incinerator from local residents, environmental groups, and politicians. Minister for Justice Michael McDowell, whose constituency surrounds the site, has repeatedly said Ringsend is the wrong location for the facility, and all parties on the council have opposed the project.

Sinn Féin councillor Daithí Doolan said the council should never have spent such a large amount on a project that was rejected by councillors and excluded from the city development plan. "No one doubts that this city faces a massive waste crisis, but simply promoting and then imposing an incinerator on the people of Dublin will not solve the problem.

"The millions wasted on this public relations racket should rightly have been invested in promoting reduction of waste and invested in our fledgling recycling industry."