Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

Given that I have been accused of introducing incineration, I do not mind using the term. As politicians, we had better begin to understand about what we are talking when we refer to incineration. We are not talking about traditional incineration facilities associated in the public mind with mass burning. No such facilities will ever be built here. They would not be acceptable to the Government or to any political party. The facilities in question have taken a huge leap in terms of technology and treatment, even in the past three to five years. Having addressed the waste problem so late, we have enormous difficulties in our waste management systems, Nevertheless, we are probably lucky because the technology we will introduce will be so advanced as to allow us to have managed facilities with very marginal emissions.

I refer the Senator to section 30(8), which states:

The Agency shall not grant a licence or revised licence in respect of the disposal of waste at a facility referred to in subsection (1) unless it is satisfied that the proposed licensee or licensee will take or will continue to take steps to comply with this section."

This means a proper statement of costs must be produced and, as a result, the real costs will be transparent and open. The public will, therefore, be properly informed about the system. Obviously, once the various facilities are in operation, we will have to examine elements of their usage to ensure that the balance of use is fairly distributed across the various approaches.