John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

Let us be very clear about what was actually said. I listened one morning to the Deputy's party leader quoting me directly, if you do not mind, as making reference to incinerators. What I actually said was that we would require thermal treatment for 400,000 tonnes of waste. The interviewer then came to the conclusion that 400,000 tonnes was the equivalent of two thermal treatment plants, which it is. I was also accused of actually naming the locations of the two incinerators as Carranstown and Cork. Again, I did not do that. If the Deputy listens very carefully to what I said in an interview on "Prime Time", along with his colleague, Deputy O'Dowd, he will hear that I outlined in some detail how this could be achieved. If we start off with a figure of about 3.2 million tonnes, which is the amount of waste we will have, this can be reduced if we achieve a recycling rate of 50%. The Deputy will agree with me that this is where we ought to go and that we can achieve 50% recycling. In fact, we can go much higher than that, particularly in towns such as Dublin. In this way the amount of waste can be substantially reduced.

The figure the Deputy keeps repeating is 1.3 million tonnes. I am intrigued by this and I have consulted my officials on this matter, because the figure I have mentioned consistently is 1.7 million tonnes.

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