John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

What I said was that it would be a last resort. We must look at those substances that have a high calorific value and consider what we do with plastics. I said previously that in combination with mechanical biological treatment, MBT, which is what is done elsewhere, we would examine separating out those materials that have a high calorific value. I refer to black bin waste that can go into an MBT plant. That can be separated out and it is what is done elsewhere. Our record on this issue is poor because we do not, and have not used, cement kilns in any way, unlike other European states. There is not a need for the amount of incinerators that have been planned. I said that consistently. My preference in terms of conversion technology has always been that we consider pyrolysis and gasification, which are higher up the recycling chain or the waste hierarchy. Cement kilns have a role to play and they play an important role elsewhere.

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