ENVIRONMENTAL groups have criticised the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for giving the go-ahead to a controversial £13 million toxic waste incinerator in Co Clare.
The EPA's granting of a pollution control licence to Roche Ireland's chemical plant at Clarecastle was "irresponsible in the extreme", said Greenpeace Ireland's spokesman, Mr John Bowler.
The Green MEP, Ms Patricia McKenna, said the decision was "an act of environmental madness".
Roche Ireland, which manufactures pharmaceutical compounds was granted a revised integrated pollution control licence by the EPA last Tuesday to allow it to operate the incinerator. The EPA said it was satisfied the incinerator was the "best option" and would reduce toxic emissions from the plant by 95 per cent. It would also meet EU and World Health Organisation standards.
The incinerator, to be completed by September 1998, will deal with liquid wastes from the site which are currently taken to Britain for incineration. Only waste generated on the site will be incinerated.
Local groups who raised objections to the incinerator at a recent oral hearing held by the EPA said they were considering a judicial review of the decision.
A spokesman from the Clare Alliance Against Incineration - it represents seven local groups - said people were "very unhappy". The alliance would examine the EPA's licensing conditions.
"The EPA has failed miserably. Incineration is a crude technology. It provides a means for industry to dilute its wastes with large quantities of air and disperse it into the environment. Access to incineration is a major disincentive to industry to make any attempt at cleaning up its act," said Mr Bowler.
Ms McKenna said the licence was a "retrograde step in the way Ireland handles its toxic waste".
Roche Ireland said it had gone through a lengthy application process over two years to install the incinerator and had provided as much information as possible to everyone interested in the project.