CHASE PRESS RELEASE - 05 /10/05
CORK TO BECOME THE BURNING CAPITAL OF THE SOUTH

CHASE has learned that the Draft Waste Management Plan for Counties Limerick, Clare and Kerry includes an expectation to be able to burn waste in neighbouring regions. This, CHASE believes, is a not very subtle code for burning waste in Cork Harbour.

The Waste Management Plan recommends “thermal treatment “ is a better form of treatment than landfill; that the region therefore needs a thermal treatment plant; which will not be in place within the five year term of the Plan; and therefore “account shall be taken of thermal treatment developments in neighbouring regions” (section 15.6). The Plan further argues that the “Proximity Principle" (i.e. building the facility nearest to where the waste is produced) is being interpreted too severely, stating that ”there should be flexibility with respect to the movement of waste across regional boundaries”(section 15.11)

This proposal is of serious concern to the people of Cork who are already having incineration thrust upon them, despite the democratic decision made by the people of Cork to reject incineration as a way of dealing with our waste and the known serious health effects of incineration even in plants working within EU limits.

The last time Cork was burning we could blame the Black and Tans. This time it is a bit more refined and is courtesy of our Belgian friends and their local helpers.

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For further information:

Mary Hurley, CHASE PRO, 021 4813070 086 8162448
Mary O’Leary, CHASE Chairperson, 021 4811952 086 8177737