Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I take it from the Taoiseach's response that the incinerator project in Ringsend will go ahead, notwithstanding the pledge made by the Minister, Deputy Gormley, last April that the Green Party would stop it. We are now working in a situation where the project will go ahead. Will the Taoiseach explain why An Bord Pleanála which is required to comply with Government policy made a decision yesterday to grant planning permission for an incinerator with a capacity to deal with 600,000 tonnes if the Government's policy is to limit it to a figure of 400,000 tonnes? I do not doubt the genuineness of the Minister's intentions last April when he told his constituents he would stop the project from going ahead. Has he sold the pass on the Ringsend incinerator off his own bat or did the Taoiseach and the rest of the Government force him to do so?

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