John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Question 181: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will provide figures for the amount of greenhouse gases produced from the combustion of a tonne of domestic waste in the type of incinerators that he hopes to build here; the net amount of electricity that he hopes will be provided from the same amount of waste; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31088/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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While the use of thermal treatment of waste with energy recovery is recognised by Government policy as a key component of an integrated approach to waste management, the provision of such waste to energy plants is a matter for the relevant local authorities or the private sector. All such facilities are required to be licensed by the Environmental Protection Agency so as at a minimum to meet the requirements of the EU Incineration Directive. The emissions and thermal output from individual plants will be a function of their scale and the technology employed and will be governed by the waste licence. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is specifically precluded from exercising any power or control in relation to the performance by the EPA of its functions in particular circumstances.