LEGISLATION PUBLISHED by former minister for the environment John Gormley which would make the Poolbeg incinerator unviable “won’t happen”, Fine Gael environment spokesman Phil Hogan has said.
Mr Gormley this month published a waste Bill which would allow levies of up to €120 per tonne for waste going to landfill.
The developers of the Poolbeg incinerator, which is in Mr Gormley’s Dublin South East constituency, have said the 600,000 tonne capacity plant could not go ahead if such levies were introduced.
However, while the Bill was published it has yet to be passed into law by the Oireachtas.
As reported in yesterday's Irish Times, Mr Gormley had written to his constituents informing them that the incinerator "cannot go ahead" because of the new levies. A spokesman for Mr Gormley said the letters were posted before the Coalition collapsed.
Mr Hogan yesterday said he understood why Mr Gormley sent the letter, but that it would have no effect. “Mr Gormley had 3½ years to sort this out; nobody in southeast Dublin believes what he says at this stage.”
The Bill, as published by Mr Gormley, would not progress through the Dáil, Mr Hogan said. “That Bill won’t happen, it won’t come in.”
Fine Gael would be developing its own national waste policy but did not intend to “rush into it”.
Construction of the Poolbeg incinerator is due to restart by the end of April.
Fine Gael had “always been against incineration”, Mr Hogan said, but would not be formulating legislation specifically to block any particular facility for political reasons. He said he retained an open mind on whether levies on incineration should be introduced.
