Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

The Minister claims that by an agreement not to raise landfill fees "in such a way as to give competitive advantage to incineration", the incinerator will be stopped. Pull the other one. Either the Minister is naive or this is a blatant attempt to hoodwink us into believing the Green Party will do something about incineration. We will not be fooled by these tactics. We have our own solution, which will result in the incinerator in Poolbeg being scrapped.

The matter is in the Minister's hands through section 24(c) of the Waste Management Act 1996. The Minister stood on this side of the House and challenged the former Minister, Mr. Michael McDowell, to exert pressure on the then Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to use those powers to stop the incinerator going ahead by requiring the managers of the four Dublin local authorities to vary the waste management plan in the Dublin region and to exclude the siting of the incinerator at Poolbeg. The current Minister asked for this action to take place, but the opportunity is now his because he has the power. Will he accept his responsibilities? The Minister must support our motion, the reasons for which are clear. Today's edition of The Irish Times quotes a Green Party spokesman alleging that the Minister could not interfere in the planning process. Why then did the Minister urge the former Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to do just that? Was the Minister lying or did he believe in what he was asking? Alleging the former Minister had the power to intervene would suggest that the current Minister now has the power to intervene. Was the Minister correct, as I believe he was, last year in saying Mr. McDowell had such powers under section 24(c)?

I hope the Minister would not be happy to do a complete U-turn on the incinerator proposal, that the waft of leathery upholstery in his new Mercedes has not gone to his head——

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