1 March 2001 Edition
Cork City Manager ignores council over Kinsale Dump
In an amazing display of contempt for the vote of councillors, Cork Corporation executive has continued to propose use of the Kinsale Road dump as the proper place for a Waste Recovery Facility (WRF). Three times councillors have asked the City Manager to go back and find other more suitable accommodation for the city's WRF; three times he has returned with the same proposal, with minor adaptations.
``Kinsale Road has been the dump for Cork City waste down the years. Local people want it closed. It means 300 lorries a day passing by the houses. Residents have had enough,'' says Jonathan O'Brien, Sinn Féin councillor in Cork City.
In 1999 the council agreed to close the dump and planned to cover it over with a green park. Then, last August, the City Manager proposed that the Waste Recovery Facility be placed on the site.
Councillors have told the manager to change this plan. Jonathan O'Brien even went so far as to bring a Section 4 motion to the council directing the manager to revise his plans. ``Perhaps he is not used to councillors rocking the boat'', comments Jonathan O'Brien, ``but the manager has stuck to his unacceptable proposal.''
``Why,'' asks O'Brien, ``have we as yet no serious plan for recycling our waste here in the county? What are we waiting for, if it isn't to end up with the Minister's long term agenda to bring an incinerator to our city as is currently threatened in Galway?''
Meanwhile, County Cork councillors are to impose a super landfill dump on Bottlehill, which is just a small village. ``It is clear that this site has been selected because there are few votes in the village, and councillors need have no fear of loosing seats through the discontent of those who live there, who don't want a landfill beside them. This is no responsible way for councillors to approach the question of waste.''
Kerry and Mayo fight superdump
Last Saturday, Sinn Féin activists in Tralee began a campaign to oppose the extension of the landfill dump near Ballymacelligott for use by other counties. Councillor Martin Ferris spoke of fears that this site will become a ``Munster Superdump'', unless each county council draws up a waste management plan which meets the demands of the people for recycling, in place of landfill or incineration.
Exactly the same thing is happening in Mayo, where waste from Sligo is being dumped at Rathroeen. Vincent Wood points out that this is a direct result of the Mayo councillors' decision to accept the Connacht Waste Management Plan, drawn up by MC O'Sullivans. ``Under this plan, `` he says, ``Mayo is obliged to accept waste from other parts of the region.''
``What we have said to the council all along is that County Mayo, as other counties, needs to draw up its own plan for waste in the county. We need to have separated waste collection, facilities for composting organic waste, and the recycling of dry waste like cans, glass and paper, for which there is a commercial outlet. Bottle banks dotted around the county are not serious recycling facilities but simply an excuse for the council to pretend to have a recycling policy when it has none.
``If councillors don't take action,'' says Wood, ``we will be forced into a false choice between landfill and incineration. And as one county squabbles with another over use of their landfill, the demand for landfill space will be rationed by higher and higher tipping fees, which will fall on the householder.''
Councillors in the West need to address this problem immediately, but there is no great enthusiasm among government party councillors to address this real problem in any way that offers a real alternative to the present government's policy of dump it or burn it.
``Kinsale Road has been the dump for Cork City waste down the years. Local people want it closed. It means 300 lorries a day passing by the houses. Residents have had enough,'' says Jonathan O'Brien, Sinn Féin councillor in Cork City.
In 1999 the council agreed to close the dump and planned to cover it over with a green park. Then, last August, the City Manager proposed that the Waste Recovery Facility be placed on the site.
Councillors have told the manager to change this plan. Jonathan O'Brien even went so far as to bring a Section 4 motion to the council directing the manager to revise his plans. ``Perhaps he is not used to councillors rocking the boat'', comments Jonathan O'Brien, ``but the manager has stuck to his unacceptable proposal.''
``Why,'' asks O'Brien, ``have we as yet no serious plan for recycling our waste here in the county? What are we waiting for, if it isn't to end up with the Minister's long term agenda to bring an incinerator to our city as is currently threatened in Galway?''
Meanwhile, County Cork councillors are to impose a super landfill dump on Bottlehill, which is just a small village. ``It is clear that this site has been selected because there are few votes in the village, and councillors need have no fear of loosing seats through the discontent of those who live there, who don't want a landfill beside them. This is no responsible way for councillors to approach the question of waste.''
Kerry and Mayo fight superdump
Last Saturday, Sinn Féin activists in Tralee began a campaign to oppose the extension of the landfill dump near Ballymacelligott for use by other counties. Councillor Martin Ferris spoke of fears that this site will become a ``Munster Superdump'', unless each county council draws up a waste management plan which meets the demands of the people for recycling, in place of landfill or incineration.
Exactly the same thing is happening in Mayo, where waste from Sligo is being dumped at Rathroeen. Vincent Wood points out that this is a direct result of the Mayo councillors' decision to accept the Connacht Waste Management Plan, drawn up by MC O'Sullivans. ``Under this plan, `` he says, ``Mayo is obliged to accept waste from other parts of the region.''
``What we have said to the council all along is that County Mayo, as other counties, needs to draw up its own plan for waste in the county. We need to have separated waste collection, facilities for composting organic waste, and the recycling of dry waste like cans, glass and paper, for which there is a commercial outlet. Bottle banks dotted around the county are not serious recycling facilities but simply an excuse for the council to pretend to have a recycling policy when it has none.
``If councillors don't take action,'' says Wood, ``we will be forced into a false choice between landfill and incineration. And as one county squabbles with another over use of their landfill, the demand for landfill space will be rationed by higher and higher tipping fees, which will fall on the householder.''
Councillors in the West need to address this problem immediately, but there is no great enthusiasm among government party councillors to address this real problem in any way that offers a real alternative to the present government's policy of dump it or burn it.