MINISTER FOR the Environment John Gormley has rejected what he called “grossly exaggerated” claims about the proposed cost to the taxpayer if the Poolbeg incinerator does not go ahead.

He also accused the multinational contractor Covanta of attempting to “intimidate” the Government and said “Government policy will not be determined by any multinational”. Mr Gormley told the Dáil: “We are the Government and will proceed with our policy on waste management and will not be intimidated or deterred by any company.”

Questioned in the Dáil by Labour environment spokeswoman Joanna Tuffy about the likely cost if multinational Covanta pulled out of the project, Mr Gormley alleged that the costs outlined by the company and Dublin city council at an Oireachtas committee hearing were grossly exaggerated, but he declined to state what the costs would be in advance of the publication of a long-awaited report he commissioned.

Ms Tuffy highlighted the comments to the committee by a senior Covanta executive who said that if the levies for incineration the Minister was promising were imposed, the company would not proceed. The Minister, in whose constituency the incinerator is set to be built, said he had received the report he commissioned on risks “which may be faced by the local authority in connection with this project”.

He was considering its findings “in consultation with the Attorney General in advance of bringing it to Government”.