ESRI slams Gormley policy on waste management

The ESRI has today published a report from on Ireland’s Waste Management Strategy which is highly critical of Minister John Gormley’s policy. The report was commissioned by Dublin City Council.

A few juicy quotes from the Frank McDonald’s Irish Times report:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0203/1224263657516.html

MINISTER FOR the Environment John Gormley’s policy on waste incineration has “no underlying rationale” and is likely to impose “needless costs on the economy”,

the Minister’s policy to set a cap of 30% on the incineration of municipal waste could damage Ireland’s reputation as a place to do business and “will thus harm economic development and competitiveness”.

“Arbitrary limits on incineration and consequent expansion of MBT [mechanical and biological treatment] have no place in waste management policy,” it says, disputing Mr Gormley’s contention that his new policy would create jobs and improve competitiveness.

Minister Gormley has responded to the strongly worded criticisms in the ESRI report, claiming that some of the data and assumptions used by ESRI are flawed.

However, I laughed when Gormley accused Dublin City Council of commissioning the report in an attempt to undermine the national strategy on waste management. Because what is undisputable, is that Gormley changed the national waste management policy specifically to undermine the plans of Dublin City Council to build a large incinerator at Poolbeg, in the minister’s own constituency.