Environmental policy should be implemented on an allIreland basis, according to a Sinn Fein waste management document published at the weekend. "Waste Management in Ireland: A Discussion Document" calls on the Northern Ireland Department of the Environment to "consider the need for an all-Ireland waste strategy" and says environmental problems cannot be "partitioned".
The document, which will be put before the party's Ard Fheis in April, calls for funding to be diverted from the "waste to energy" incinerator proposed for Dublin which it describes as "a bogus environmental project". It recommends the £113 million to be spent on the project should be given instead to "environmentally-balanced waste management schemes" that "could be developed and run by local communities".
The Irish and British governments are called on not to allow industry "to dictate the pace and development of the emerging recycling industry".
It says tackling the waste management problem involves "fundamentally re-examining our methods of manufacturing, of industrial development and consumer culture". The document also calls for a halt in the development of landfill dumps and says there is "much more scope" for environmental taxes on industry.
It concludes that economic development should be sustainable and "meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".
A debate on the discussion document held by the party at the weekend featured contributions from representatives of Friends of the Earth, Earthwatch and NI 2000. Opening the debate, the Sinn Fein representative for Dublin South West, Mr Sean Crowe, said some observers might wonder "why at such a critical juncture in the peace process" the party's representatives were gathered to discuss environmental issues.
The answer was that Sinn Fein has "never been a single-issue party, despite the best efforts of the media to portray us as such".
