Bord Pleanala has deferred for a tenth time a decision on the Ringaskiddy Incinerator in Cork Harbour. A decision, originally due by July 2016, following nine subsequent deferrals was listed for 28 February 2018.
Bord Pleanala now say that a decision will be delivered within three months.
Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment (CHASE) Chairperson Mary O’Leary said “CHASE is certain that a refusal is the only correct decision and while we are prepared to wait for that outcome, we believe that decision could have been delivered immediately after the 2016 hearing in time to meet statutory obligations and the July 2016 deadline.
This community engaged in full and in good faith in a process that presented us with brutally incorrect dioxin figures which, if Bord Pleanala is competent, must have been known to them. The Bord needs to understand how very hard it is for our community to maintain faith in this process.”
In a press release CHASE says, with each delay, issues with both the application and the site escalate. The site is no longer zoned for industrial use, having been rezoned for Educational purposes by Cork County Council in Local Area Plans agreed in July 2017. Figures released by the EPA in December 2017 show that Ireland is already meeting its EU Waste framework obligations, so granting permission to build this incinerator would directly contravene recommendations made by the European Commission in it’s January 2017 report on the implementation of a the Circular Economy Plan in which it warns heavily against the construction of new incinerators, to the extent that it recommends the phasing out of public money from incinerators, the introduction of a moratorium on new facilities and the introduction or increase of incineration taxes.
CHASE is writing to Bord Pleanala today requesting justification for the 'endless' deferrals.
