The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, is likely to find himself excoriated by his Green Party constituency colleague, Mr John Gormley TD, as plans proceed for a municipal waste incinerator on the Poolbeg peninsula.
The site of the proposed incinerator may be at the eastern extremity of Dublin South East, but there can be no doubt that many of their constituents will become increasingly vocal on the issue as the plans crystallise for this €200 million project.
Though the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrat Programme for Government came out against "mass-burn incineration" as unacceptable, it left the way open for thermal treatment based on energy recovery from waste. The programme also specified that thermal treatment using best available technology "must be based on prior extraction from the waste stream of recyclables and problematic materials (e.g., metals, batteries) to the maximum extent possible".
Mr McDowell can at least point out that this condition is in line with the PD election manifesto, rather than the Fianna Fáil position which favoured incineration, though without specifically saying so in its environment policy document.
It may also be seen as an endorsement of the German Herhof process, being promoted here by Treasury Holdings, under which recyclables are extracted from the waste stream and what's left is turned into refuse-derived fuel. But whatever the process, it is clear that no community is prepared to tolerate a waste disposal facility as a near neighbour - especially a thermal treatment plant - so residents of Ringsend and its environs are preparing for an almighty battle ahead.
