Posted online: Nov 20th, 2008

By Claire Duignan

claire.duignan@kildarepost.com

Anti-incinerator campaigners are calling on the Green Party to take a stand against the proposed plant at Rathcoole. 

The second oral hearing got underway last week and heard councillors and TD’s voice their concerns on the proposed site at Behan’s Quarry at Rathcoole, just four kilometres from Kill.

Carole Collins from Kill and a member of RAID (Rathcoole Against Incinerator Dioxins) said: “I am calling on the Greens to table a motion against this proposal. In the past they would not have been able, but they have a strong position in government now and have to take a stand.”

She added “The system is very unfair, we are up against experts who have had years to prepare for this… we were give just eight weeks. It is costly and timely.”

Cllr Paddy McNamara raised concerns too: “My principal objection to this development is the, what if? situation, what if there is a breakdown in the control system and the temperature fails to reach that at which dioxins are destroyed? If there is a fault in the system, say a thermocouple gets covered in carbon deposit and does not register the correct temperature, or a bug in the software of the control system. Then large amounts of waste could be burned at incorrect temperatures and large amount of dioxins emitted since the sampling systems is not in real-time. With a time lag of days/weeks, this means the residents of Rathcoole, Kill, Kilteel or Rathmore could be exposed to dangerous levels of emissions before anyone would know about it.”