Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan.

The Poolbeg project is provided for in the Dublin regional waste management plan for which the four Dublin local authorities have statutory responsibility under the Waste Management Acts. The facility is being advanced by Dublin City Council, acting on behalf of the Dublin local authorities by way of a public private partnership with Dublin Waste to Energy Ltd, a joint venture of Covanta Energy and DONG Energy Generation A/S Denmark.

The project received planning approval from An Bord Pleanála in November 2007 and was granted a waste license from the EPA in December 2008. The facility is intended to recover energy from residual waste and is to have a capacity of 600,000 tonnes per annum. In accordance with the provisions of the Waste Management Acts, the preparation and adoption of a waste management plan, including in respect of infrastructure provision, is the statutory responsibility of the local authority or authorities concerned and under section 60(3) of the Act the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government is precluded from exercising any power or control in relation to the performance by a local authority, in particular circumstances, of a statutory function vested in it.

Mr. John Hennessy, SC, was appointed under section 224 of the Local Government Act 2001 as an authorised person to examine potential financial risks associated with the Poolbeg project within a given set of scenarios. Mr. Hennessy had access to a full range of commercial documents. In June 2011, the Minister published the report prepared by Mr. Hennessy on the Poolbeg project. He did so to ensure that as much information as possible is available to the public, while respecting the confidential nature of information provided to Mr. Hennessy to compile his report. The report, as published, was, therefore, redacted to protect commercially sensitive information. At the time of publication I indicated that much had changed since the report was commissioned and that there will be further changes as he finalises a new waste policy. Mr. Hennessy provided a very good report but was working within a set of scenarios which had been narrowly defined for him, which somewhat restricted the applicability of the report. Having consulted Government colleagues, the Minister concluded that there was no national waste policy justification for intervening in the matter and that decisions in regard to the project are a matter for the two parties to the contract, Dublin City Council and Covanta Limited.

The Minister understands that the parties to the contract in respect of the Poolbeg facility are in a period of review. Queries concerning the status of discussions, contract terms and costs of the project should be directed to the city council and its partners in the project.

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