Irish Independent - 24-06-05
Dangers of incinerators

Sir - I was very interested to read Allison Brady's article on the delay of the Government-commissioned report of a link between respiratory disease and incinerators. She refers to Minister Roche's comments: "The public can have continuing concerns about the ongoing operation of such facilities and a legitimate desire for the maximum amount of information in regard to their impact." Such sentiments might suggest an openness to the concerns of the public by Minister Roche. It may surprise readers to know that the Minister has continuously refused to meet the community group CHASE (Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment), which has represented the views of 30,000 people opposed to the building of the hazardous waste incinerator.

Their concerns are not of the 'not-in-my-back-yard' variety. They have discovered significant problems in relation to the monitoring of waste facilities, which the Department of the Environment and the Department of Health are aware of but flatly refuse to address. This inability to monitor has been identified by none other than Mary Kelly, the director general of the Environmental Protection Agency, who wrote to the Department of Health to put them on notice about the problem. To date, no response has been forthcoming from the Department of Health.

Mary Hurley,
High Road,
Cobh, Co Cork