Paudge Connolly (Cavan-Monaghan, Independent)

Yes. We will not build a structure for €60 million or €90 million and leave it sitting idle. This is the major difficulty we have. When people are applying for planning permission for such incinerators, they are afraid or almost ashamed to call them incinerators. They want to call them power-producing plants or plants that will link into the ESB grid. The people of Monaghan find themselves in a catch-22 situation in that an incinerator is being built although planning permission was sought for a power plant. There was no reference to an incinerator in the application to the county council. The case is to go before An Bord Pleanála next week and it will be interesting to see how it develops.

One reason incinerators are referred to as power plants is to take one's eye off the health hazards associated with incinerators. Whether we like it, incinerators produce dioxins, which are carcinogenic. This is a major difficulty and we will have to address it. Nobody has convinced me or produced evidence that incinerators do not produce dioxins and are not carcinogenic.

I am concerned about the proposed incinerator in north Monaghan, which is to be in an area with very poor road access. The amount of additional traffic that would be generated on the rural roads defies logic.

There is now a recycling ethos. It is not just a matter of picking up cans but of stimulating the environmental consciousness of society. We have started on this journey and we should continue to do so. We should encourage young and old alike to develop better policies.

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