An expert group is meeting this afternoon to discuss the underground fire that is raging at an abandoned dump at Kerdiffstown, near Naas, Co Kildare.
The local emergency co-ordination committee has access to a specialist report commissioned by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and thermal imaging data from the Garda.
It will brief the Minister for the Environment on a daily basis.
State agencies are also due to meet local residents today over the issue. The meeting involving the EPA, Kildare County County, and the HSE follows one yesterday that was also attended by gardaí and the Defence Forces, to co-ordinate the response to the fire.
That meeting agreed a number of steps relating to security of the site, additional air monitoring and fire fighting.
The fire, which started more than a week ago, has been described as an “environmental emergency” by Charlie Talbot, secretary of Kildare County Council, with the fire services unable to bring it under control.
Smoke containing elevated levels of sulphur dioxide have prompted some local residents to leave their homes, and the council is considering whether a wider evacuation may be required.
According to the EPA, indications are the burning material consists of wood waste with some 10 per cent plastic. It added monitoring revealed no air quality standard breaches, "although it has been recognised that the fire and the site itself has caused concerns for local people".
Minister for the Environment Éamon Ó Cuív is to provide immediate funding to deal with the underground fire. This will be used to extinguish the fire and provide security at the site.
The EPA has called on SKM Enviros, British consultants with expertise in landfill fires, for advice and they have recommended using liquid nitrogen to deal with the blaze, which started more than a week ago.
The Minister held meetings yesterday with council and EPA officials and local TDs, including Labour’s Emmet Stagg, who demanded the immediate release of aid from the environment fund.