PRESS RELEASE – 16/02/05
Lecturer Voices Concern for Maritime College Students
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Peter Walter, a resident of Ringaskiddy, and a lecturer at the National Maritime College, expressed his deep concern for the residents of the area and the 700 students of the college in the event of an accident.

In the event of an emergency at the incinerator, which is only 20 metres from the College, he predicted that this third level college "will be the most vulnerable of any building in Irleand. How can this be allowed?" He also predicted that the area will become a “sacrifice zone” where human health is to be compromised.

Joan Masson, from CASE (Carrigaline for a Safe Environment) criticized former Minister for the Environment, Martin Cullen, at the EPA Oral Hearing in Cork today. She declared that we do not have a waste crisis, we have a “Waste Mis-Management Crisis” in this country.

She called for a moratorium on incineration as a method of waste management, and presented a comprehensive paper on alternative treatments of both hazardous and municipal waste.

Rose Cargin, speaking on behalf of Kinsale Environment Watch at the Hearing, has called for the resignation of Laura Burke, Director of the EPA, and formerly Project Manager for Indaver Ireland.

Ms Cargin also warned of possible dangers such as fires and explosions at incinerators and cited several examples of catastrophies, including one at Dundee in Scotland, where an incinerator using the same technology as the one planned for Cork harbour was eventually closed down, having suffered two fires in two years as well as twenty separate breaches of emission limits.

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For further information contact:
Mary Hurley, CHASE PRO, Tel: 021 4813070 Mobile: 086 8162448
Mary O’Leary, Chairperson, CHASE Tel: 021 4811952 Mobile: 086 8177737