Council to seek go-ahead for waste burner

Dublin City Council is to seek planning permission from An Bord Pleanála for the controversial incinerator at Poolbeg in Ringsend by the end of next month, The Irish Times has learned.

Elsam, the Danish company contracted to design, build and operate the incinerator, has completed its environmental impact statement (EIS), which will be submitted to the planning board along with the council's planning application.

The council intends to apply to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a licence to run the incinerator at the same time rather than waiting for planning permission to be granted, in an attempt to expedite the process.

However, it is now unlikely that the incinerator will be built by 2010, as projected last year by the council, a spokeswoman for the project has said.

"That would be very optimistic. I think it's unlikely it would happen by then. The construction phase will take two years and I can't see that being under way by 2008."

The planning application will offer the public, in particular the local communities of Ringsend and Irishtown, the first opportunity to see the exact specifications of the plant.

It will confirm that the plant will have the capacity to process 600,000 tonnes of waste annually (previously only the figure of 25 per cent of Dublin's waste was given).

It will also give definitive traffic numbers for the plant, an issue that has become the major bone of contention with residents. The application allows for 288 "truck movements" every day, which translates as 144 vehicles going to and from the plant, a figure far below the predictions of local opposition groups.

Objections to the council's planning application are inevitable and there is likely to be a public oral hearing, which will probably not take place until February or March next year, but could be up to a year away, the spokeswoman said. There is no statutory time limit for the board to make a decision, and there is the possibility that objectors will attempt to mount a judicial review of the process, which could take two years.

The Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, yesterday criticised political opposition to incineration.

Speaking at an international waste management conference in Dublin Castle, he said political opposition did not necessarily reflect public opposition to incineration and politicians were "disregarding their duty" to provide leadership on waste management.