An Irish Planning Students Blog

It looks as if the Poolbeg Incinerator row is going to turn into a major political quagmire in the not so distant future!

THE DEVELOPERS of the €350 million incinerator proposed for Poolbeg in Dublin, which is opposed by Minister for the Environment John Gormley, have requested a meeting with Taoiseach Brian Cowen.

Scott Whitney, president of Covanta Europe, told a press conference in Dublin yesterday the company had been in touch with Mr Cowen’s office. “We’ve suggested that at some point a meeting with the Taoiseach might be useful,” Mr Whitney said.

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TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen has been challenged to “show his hand” over the Poolbeg incinerator and declare whether it is Government policy to allow it proceed or to be scrapped.

Fine Gael environment spokesman Phil Hogan said that it was now incumbent on Mr Cowen to state his position on the planned Dublin regional waste incinerator.

Last week Mr Gormley published a draft waste policy plan which strongly favours mechanical and biological treatment of waste over incineration.

If implemented, it would have the effect of making a large incinerator like Poolbeg unviable.

Mr Hogan said yesterday that Mr Cowen had merely welcomed the consultation process that will now take place in relation to the draft policy.

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Minister for the Environment John Gormley has rejected as “scaremongering” and “absolute nonsense” claims that the State will face massive EU fines for landfill waste if the controversial Poolbeg incinerator does not go ahead.

The Minister also said he would this week receive the report of the “authorised officer” he appointed in March to examine the contract between Dublin City Council and a consortium to build the €350 million incinerator.

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MAJOR NEW planning legislation to be published today will dramatically clamp down on retentions for large developments and on the rampant expansion of quarries.

The Planning Bill 2010 will be published by Minister for the Environment John Gormley and is partly designed to target problems that persistently cropped up during the property boom which existing planning legislation was not equipped to deal with.

On the retention issue, the Bill will require that it will no longer be possible for planning permission to be granted for retention of developments built without planning permission, where the development would have required an environmental impact assessment (EIA).

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MINISTER FOR the Environment John Gormley will express his “dismay” at a Cabinet meeting next week over remarks by Dublin city manager John Tierney on the controversial Poolbeg incinerator project.

Mr Tierney last week said the Minister “must be aware” that Dublin City Council had a statutory obligation to go ahead with the incinerator and that interference with the project could leave the State with a multimillion-euro compensation bill.

The incinerator site is in Mr Gormley’s own constituency of Dublin South East. As an opposition TD, he made a submission to An Bord Pleanála against the application for permission to build the facility. However, on becoming Minister, he was legally precluded from interfering in a statutory process that had already begun.

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The use of nuclear power should be open for debate, Minister for the Environment John Gormley told a climate change forum in Dublin today.

“The technologies being developed, which people claim are 100 per cent safe, are still in their infancy,” he said.

“I’ve seen presentations on chlorine fluoride reactors and on pebble bed technology but problems continue even though they say they are addressing the waste problem.”

“I remain to be convinced but I’m not closing the door…I do think we have to have a continued debate on those issues,” he said.

Mr Gormley told the forum, entitled W hat is at stake in Copenhagen? , that he felt a fully-fledged treaty is unlikely to be achieved at the climate conference in Denmark next month.

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Landfill levy will increase to €30 per tonne, incineration levy will be €20-€38 per tonne; root and branch review of waste policy will benefit the environment and drive job creation, says Green Leader

Green Party Leader and Environment Minister John Gormley today launched a report underpinning a major review of waste management policy. The report commissioned by the Minister on foot of a commitment in the Programme for Government, examines all aspects of waste management policy, from prevention and minimisation to the management of residual waste.

Speaking at the launch, the Minister said: “I was determined that our review of waste management should be a root and branch one, and it is. The Eunomia report provides a blueprint for change. Changing the way we collect and treat our waste will benefit not just our environment, but also our economy. It will create jobs in new waste industries. It will enhance competitiveness of the wider economy as a whole. It will drive innovation which in turn will drive job creation.”

The Minister also announced increases to the landfill levy to drive waste from landfill in order to meet challenging EU targets, the first of which occurs in 2010. The levy will increase to €30 per tonne by 2010, to €50 in 2011 and to €75 in 2012. “Earlier this year the Government also decided to introduce an incineration levy. While the actual rate of the levy will need to relate to the rates of landfill levy which I have just announced I do envisage that the incineration levy will be in the range of €20 to €38 per tonne,” said the Minister.

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MARY MINIHAN

MINISTER FOR the Environment and Green Party leader John Gormley has described the decision to temporarily scale back the College Green “bus gate” as “a retrograde step”.

Dublin city councillors voted on Monday night to lift the ban on private cars passing through the area during peak evening hours from November 18th to January 15th.

“I think the decision to abandon the ‘bus gate’ for the time being in the evenings is really based on fear not facts,” Mr Gormley said.

“I respect councils and local government and want to see more decisions made locally, but as a Dublin TD and resident, the decision Fine Gael and Labour councillors made was a bad one . . . It’s a retrograde step.”

Mr Gormley said the bus corridor was making life easier for people who used buses or bicycles, but the move by the council “steals time from them”.

He said that the last thing that should happen in a recession was for the city to be made less accessible.

“When I hear that car parks are not doing as much business as previously, I have to say that to me that sounds like good news.”

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said he was “disappointed” at the decision.

“But, importantly, he would welcome the fact that a fixed date has been set for its reintroduction,” said the spokesman.

Labour councillor Dermot Lacey stressed the scaling back was temporary.

“There are 43 agencies or bodies with responsibility for traffic in Dublin.

“When Ministers Dempsey and Gormley sort that out, maybe they can come back to us,” Mr Lacey said.

Representatives from Dublin City Council and Dublin Chamber of Commerce will appear before the Oireachtas transport committee today to discuss the issue.

Source: IrishTimes