PEOPLE BEFORE PROFIT OUTRAGE AT NEW RINGASKIDDY INCINERATOR APPLICATION

People Before Profit’s Cork South Central general election candidate, Jim O’Connell, has expressed outrage and concern at the new application to Bord Pleanála lodged by Indaver this week.

Speaking in support of CHASE, the Cork action group who have spent years fighting to stop the building of a hazardous waste incinerator on their doorstep, Jim said:

“It’s an absolute disgrace. Indaver and their unwanted incinerator have been turned down four times now, with decisions citing EU law, Irish planning law, coastal erosion, and the WHO.

For you and I, no means no in situations like this, but here we have a multi-national corporation hell-bent on getting what they want at the expense of the health well being of the environment and people of the Lower Harbour.

“Hazardous waste incinerators are dangerous and it is widely accepted in international environmental law that they should be phased out, and the practice of burning toxic chemicals and carcinogenic substances stopped completely.”

“The Ringaskiddy case is particularly worrying given the proximity of Indaver’s proposed incineration site to the Cork coast. We’ve all seen the damage caused by recent storms, and we all know that our sea and riverside environments are changing more quickly than anyone can predict. Building an incinerator and landfill handling thousands of tonnes of hazardous, dangerous chemicals and substances right on a coastline is madness beyond comprehension. Flooding, landslips, soil displacement – these will happen, and when they do they will take that hazardous waste and dump it right into our water supply, our fishing waters, our farms and food supply.”

“The people of Cork Harbour and its environs will fight this application, we will not sit by and let ourselves be slowly poisoned by corporate folly. I urge Bord Pleanála to not just say No to Indaver, but to say Enough is Enough! It’s time for our government bodies to stand firm and protect the health, the rights, and the wishes of the Irish people, and not the whims of multi-million euro corporate entities.”