Two anti-incineration groups have resigned from a consultation forum on the waste management plan for the south-east, claiming the public is being excluded from the process.
The New Ross-based Research and Information Group and the Organisation for Ecological and Sustainable Waste Management, which has members in Kilkenny and Waterford, claim the plan was being drawn up solely by unelected consultants and county managers.
A spokeswoman for the council, which is the lead authority in drawing up the regional plan, said "a real and tangible" attempt was being made to involve the public in the process.
A previous waste management plan for the region, which included a proposed incinerator, was shelved after Wexford County Council rejected it following a major anti-incineration campaign in the county.
A waste management "information and communications forum" set up by Tipperary South County Council to involve the public in preparation of the plan held its third meeting on Thursday.
In a joint statement, the two forum groups which have resigned said communities were being briefed only after each decision on the plan had been made. "Once the plan has been prepared the public will have no say in its adoption. The plan will be adopted by the same unelected managers, without the public approval of our elected representatives."
However, Ms Laura Lenehan, the Tipperary council's public awareness officer, said it had gone well beyond its statutory obligations in setting up the forum. Many of the suggestions made by the public had "changed the route the consultants were taking", she said.
