Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

The incinerator would not have affected me one way or the other, that was not the issue. The proposed location was 30 miles away. Extreme care must be taken in determining the right location.

If one goes to the suburbs of Vienna in Austria, one will see an incinerator that has been there for years. It looks like an art deco object. I have lived in Austria from time to time and have not read or heard any complaints about it. Austria has an extremely environmentally clean image and attracts more tourists than practically any other country in Europe. Denmark has an agricultural industry and its butter competes with ours. There is no suggestion that its very modern incinerators pose a problem. Of course there were serious problems with some incinerators 20 or 30 years ago, but the technology has improved a good deal.

There is some merit in the argument that one needs to ensure there is not so much capacity that one creates a disincentive to better waste management practices. When planning, one needs to determine the overall capacity needed in the country as a whole and not go above that.

I used to be involved in energy policy when I was in the Department of Foreign Affairs. There was much talk about combined heat and power, which is very relevant in that the energy created in the disposal of waste can be used for heating purposes.

I was asked recently to raise a green flag at a school in Tipperary. The green flag scheme is excellent. This is an area in which the younger generation really is ahead of us.