Mr. Peadar O'Sullivan:

I will deal with the question about sludge because I work in the waste treatment plant in Ringsend. While there is a comprehensive system at the moment of bringing sludge from the treatment works to land, it is expensive and it means hauling sludge from Ringsend to Carlow and having nutrient management plans on farms. Farmers and local communities are not always too keen to get Dublin sludge. While there are no plans to incinerate in the new waste to energy plant, if it were to come about, there would be huge synergies as sludge from the sewage of Dublin would create electricity for the national grid and there would also be a huge saving in transport costs with no requirement to transport it to Carlow. Heat from the waste to energy plant could also be diverted to the treatment works and save on electricity costs. While there are no plans, huge synergies could be addressed with great savings to the city.