Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Hoctor, and wish the Minister, Deputy Gormley, a speedy recovery. Given that it is St. Valentine's Day, I will not heckle Senator Boyle and will be amorous in my remarks to him. I welcome his continuing opposition to the location of an incinerator in Ringaskiddy and share his concerns.

At the beginning of his speech, Senator Boyle asked why so much waste is being produced. I agree with him that we need to change our production practices urgently. In the course of this debate, we cannot let the question hang without tackling the issue.

I listened intently to Senator Boyle and hope the proposals associated with the genuine position he and his colleagues had adopted prior to entering Government are realised through the waste management strategy. I do not mean that in a critical way and I refer in particular to mass-burn incineration which the nation should reject. I have not been convinced by its advocates and we need to send out a strong message that incineration does not work and lends itself to further production of waste. As the Senator stated, incinerators need to be fed.

On the programme for Government and the EU landfill directive, I would like to see concrete proposals on how we will reach our target by 2010. I hope the Minister will pursue the mechanical and biological solutions with vigour and that we will have an intelligent debate on the matter. It is the ordinary people who must buy into the philosophy.

There are already five incinerators in Ringaskiddy and the area has been developed on foot of the establishment of pharmaceutical companies in the region. The N28 is not capable of accommodating the existing traffic and there is a proposal for the Port of Cork to be moved towards Ringaskiddy. I ask the Minister of State to return to her colleagues in Government to consider that Ringaskiddy is an unsuitable location, as is clearly the case.

In having this debate, we need to engage with citizens on the national waste strategy. Senators have alluded to the fact that our current landfill practices cannot proceed forever and that therefore we must reduce what is placed in landfill. New approaches and mindsets are required and there is willingness across the political divide in this regard. The methods we encourage must be people-centred and promote thought before action. In many ways we have forgotten we are stewards of the environment and that each of us, from the President and Taoiseach down to the youngest child, is responsible for conserving it. There should be no strata or any divide because it behoves us all to pass on to posterity an environment that is clean, healthy and enhanced.

There has been considerable growth in the development of civic amenity centres in many cities and towns, which I welcome, but we need to enhance them. On the grounds of my GAA club, Bishopstown, of which I am chairman, there is a civil amenity centre run by Cork City Council. People leave bottles and cans at the facility. Why can we not have a cardboard recycling centre running in tandem? It would encourage people to recycle.

I agree with the remarks of Senators Quinn and Norris on the Order of Business to the effect that we all receive a considerable amount of unnecessary paper. Over the Christmas period, I engaged a shredding company and filled ten bags with Cork City Council and Oireachtas paper.