Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

It is a pity we do not have more time to debate this important issue but, unfortunately, that is how the cards are stacked in this House at present. I welcome the opportunity to address the waste management issue. I and my party fully support the motion.

Many of the proposals in the motion reflect the demands of Sinn Féin in recent years. Greater provision of recycling opportunities, dealing with excessive packaging and returning power for making waste management plans to local authority members are very important. The last matter is what democracy should be all about because local authority members are the closest to the communities. They represent those communities and should have the power to make waste management plans.

The Minister has an opportunity to deal with that specific issue. In 2003, I moved the Waste Management (Amendment) Bill which is on the Order Paper. Will the Minister take it, move it or provide time for me to move it? It will reinstate the power for making waste management plans with locally elected democratic representatives of the community. I am sure they will not introduce incineration.

It is high time that sustainable waste management strategies which meet the needs of the population based on the logic of reduce, reuse and recycle were implemented. They need to make sense economically, socially and environmentally. We cannot simply bury or burn this problem any longer.

I remember being a member of a local authority in 1999 and 2000 when consultants were wheeled out to wag the finger at local authority members and tell us we could no longer simply dig a hole in the ground and bury waste. What are we told now by those same consultants and experts when it comes to legacy waste from the nuclear industry? There is one safe option to deal with it and we need not worry because it will be safe. They will dig a hole and bury it under the ground because, as of now, they do not know how to deal with it. It will remain radioactive for thousands of years so a hole will be dug and it will be buried. Is that not hypocrisy?

My party has been active on the issue of waste management for many years and supported courageous communities throughout the country, such as in Carranstown, Ringaskiddy and the Poolbeg peninsula. These people represent future generations. They are big-minded, unlike this Government. Some local authorities have demonstrated a positive approach to the issue of waste management. Galway is a glowing example. It now achieves approximately 54% recycling rates. This demonstrates what can be achieved if there is a will, leadership is given and people are provided with the infrastructure.

The Government had ample opportunities to address the situation but the Minister and his predecessor failed to do so. The answer is not to dump waste in landfills or incinerators but to develop an all-island sustainable strategy based on the principle of reduction, reuse and recycle.

Danger to our health and environment from incinerating is significant due to dioxins and carcinogenic emissions. The Minister knows all about it because we debated this many times before. However, he chooses to ignore it. He has not addressed the issue of residue waste from incineration. The rates for bottom waste and fly ash are 25% and 5% to 7% respectively. How this hazardous waste will be dealt with has not been outlined in any detail. However, more communities are driven into this tunnel.

The public's concerns are real. This is not a shallow not-in-my-back-yard notion that people do not want ugly incinerators in their communities. Their concern is for the health and well-being of their communities and, in particular, their children. It is a scandal and an indictment not only of the Government but also of the State that the two issues of greatest concern to people, health and environment, cannot be considered by the planning authorities at planning application stage. What could be more important to any community or state? However, Government policy does not allow those two issues to be considered. It is obscene and should be changed urgently.

The Government again displayed a skewed logic with the introduction of the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Bill 2006. We will debate Committee Stage tomorrow and I look forward to it because it will be interesting. The Bill is a device to allow for the construction of incinerators and it will have a major impact on communities throughout the land. However, it is not only about incineration. It is also intended to use the Bill to trample on the rights of communities such as Rossport which will not now have an option under law of objecting to the threat to it from the pipeline.

The Government heeds the financial interests of the financiers and speculators ahead of the fears and wishes of real people. We do not wonder about that. The real people of this State do not queue up outside the Fianna Fáil tent at the Galway Races every summer. We see from the list that the financiers and speculators do so.

Generally, communities are not provided with infrastructure. Separated waste collection, as previous speakers stated, is not provided in the way it should be. Where civic amenity centres are in place, they work brilliantly. In my county town of Dundalk, in excess of 48 items can be recycled to the extent that one does not need to have a bin. Ample opportunity is provided for significant recycling. Drogheda has a new civic amenity centre and I have no doubt that the people of that town will choose to use it wisely.

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