A decision is expected from An Bord Pleanála tomorrow on whether to uphold planning permission for the State's first municipal waste incinerator.
The incinerator is part of a waste management facility proposed by Indaver Ireland for a site at Carranstown, Co Meath.
The county council granted planning permission, subject to 30 conditions, in July 2001. Last August, Bord Pleanála held an oral hearing into the objections; 70 different parties appealed the decision.
The company says that the incinerator, along with recycling facilities also planned for the site, would have the capacity needed to implement the waste management plan for the north-east.
A spokesman for No Incineration Alliance, an umbrella group of objectors, described the oral hearing as "democratically-deficient", as it could not consider health or environmental issues.
"Notwithstanding this incomplete and inadequate process, we hope that, if the planning appeals body has any credibility, it will reject it. The company must also secure a licence from the Environmental Protection Agency, and the NIA is calling for it to hold an oral hearing and for the agency to address a public meeting in Drogheda on the licensing process, given the major concerns this \ has raised."
The alliance has also criticised the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, for failing to publish the findings of a Health Research Board study into incineration and landfill commissioned by his predecessor, Mr Noel Dempsey.
A spokeswoman for Indaver Ireland said that environmental and health issues would be addressed by the EPA, which is to hold an oral hearing into the licence application. The agency confirmed that it was processing the application.