Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for delivering the reply on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Naughten. However, it provides cold comfort to the residents of Mungret, Raheen, Balinacurra, Clarina and all those other heavily populated districts which will be immediately affected if this proposal proceeds.

I take the Minister's point that Limerick County Council is responsible for planning and we do not seek to interfere with the planning process in any way. However, the Government must have responsibility for national policy on incineration. It must also be conscious of the fact that the performance of incinerators in this country is patchy at best with consequent implications for people's health.

Is the Minister aware that Limerick city already has one of the worst levels of pulmonary disease in the country? As I will be facing the people on Saturday, will the Minister give me a guarantee there will be no adverse consequences for public health in terms of air quality, pollution or the potential for a serious accident or filter failure? Will he give me a guarantee that there will be no reputational risk to the dairy sector in the area which is vital to the local economy or to tourism, another fundamental prop of the local economy, or to the plans, to which his Government has averted, to turn Limerick into a business hub by 2030?

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