Anti-incineration campaigners in the south-east say their fight is not finished, despite the decision of two county managers to approve plans for a regional waste incinerator.
All six local authorities in the region have now adopted a waste management strategy that includes incineration, following the move by the managers of Waterford and Wexford county councils, Mr Donal Connolly and Mr Séamus Dooley.
The managers used powers conferred on them in legislation passed last year to overrule decisions by members of both councils to reject incineration.
Their decision was described as "a black day for democracy" by the deputy leader of the Labour Party, Mr Brendan Howlin, who was one of a majority of Wexford county councillors to vote against the waste plan.
Mr Dooley and Mr Connolly said, however, they had no discretion under the Waste Management (Amendment) Act of last year and were obliged to adopt the plan once councillors had failed to do so.
The Act was introduced by the then Minister for the Environment, Mr Noel Dempsey, last year because of the continued refusal of some local authorities to adopt waste management plans in the face of local opposition.
A New Ross-based group opposed to incineration, the Research and Information Group, said it anticipated the managers' decision but was disappointed by the timing.
Dr Michael Prendergast, a spokesman for the group, said the managers had until the end of September to sign orders adopting the plan. "Instead they did it when the councils are effectively in recess and there is no opportunity for councillors to discuss the matter."
However, the acting county manager in Wexford, Ms Anne O'Reilly, said Mr Dooley would have had to adopt the plan regardless of how long he had waited.
Confirming that the campaign would continue, Dr Prendergast said councillors in Wexford had twice rejected incineration. "This is not the end of it. It's a purely undemocratic decision, and for a waste strategy to be successful it needs public participation and approval."
Mr Howlin said councillors in Wexford had been largely supportive of the waste strategy but felt they could not endorse the proposal for a "massive incinerator", especially when a study on the potential health implications of incineration, commissioned by Mr Dempsey, was still not completed.
A spokesman for the Department of the Environment said the State's record on waste management to date was "an embarrassment", however, and it was under pressure from the EU to act.
The Health Research Board study referred to by Mr Howlin had been commissioned because of people's concerns, "but it doesn't change the fact that we still have to meet deadlines, that we still have a waste management problem and that we have to address that problem".
Even if the waste strategy for the south-east, which also includes ambitious targets on recycling, recovery and reuse of waste, goes ahead on schedule, it will be at least seven years before an incinerator is built. No location for the proposed plant has yet been identified. A feasibility study is now to be carried out.
