Speeches
Private Members Business on Waste Management in the Dáil on 21st June 2006
Private Members Business on 21st June 2006 on Waste - Extracts from Fiona O’Malley’s speech in the Dáil.
I came in yesterday evening to listen to the Green Party debate this important strategic issue. I was sadly disappointed. I wasted my time. What I heard was one member of the Green Party after another kick their constituency colleagues around the place.
We were treated to a kicking of local constituency colleagues. I am sorry that the people are not in the Gallery today because I would have expected-----
such a short time from a general election, that this is the opportunity for the Green Party to put its cards on the table, to announce its policies on these important issues and to tell its constituents who were in the Gallery exactly how it will deal with this critical waste problem.
The Green Party recognises it as a critical waste problem but not one of them took the opportunity to discuss the Canadian Guelph theory and process. They did not even bother to address their own motion because they, and particularly Deputy Gormley, were so keen in particular, was playing to the Gallery which was full of his constituents. I am sorry that those constituents are not present to hear what he would do were he in Government but this is the problem with the policies of the Green Party, which does not finish its sentences.
They tell us the problem, which we all recognise, and what we all need to do, but they fail to deal with the responsibility of the response. They have never yet been in Government and they will be a long time waiting for office because they do not live in the real world dealing honestly and responsibly with the issue.
It is an important issue and I am grateful to the Green Party for highlighting and giving us the opportunity to discuss this Forfás report. One point I have taken from that report is the progress Ireland has made. The Minister stated in his speech yesterday that we are on the right road. The road is not finished, but clearly Ireland has made enormous improvements. Deputy Nolan spoke about this. Before the Government took office in 1997 recycling rates were at an atrocious level of 9%. They are now at 33%.
I agree with anybody who states that is not enough but let us try to get as much done as we can. Part of the reason that recycling efforts have been taken up so well in Ireland, to which Deputy Nolan also alluded, and which also has much to do with efforts such as programmes in schools, is undoubtedly the bring centres. My area of Glasthule has a new facility which means it is so much easier for people to recycle. We all are easily able to recycle because it is as convenient as taking rubbish with you for disposal and recycling when going to the shops or wherever.
There is another glaring point in this Forfás report. It clearly sets out the infrastructural deficit in terms of waste management. This is another area where I take issue with the Green Party. On the energy side, it continuously tells us how good other countries like Denmark are in terms of generation of wind power, renewable energy and the like, but it fails to be honest about it and state such countries also use nuclear power. Equally, Flanders is sited as an example and I agree it is one to which we all should aspire.
In Flanders , which is the ideal to which we all aspire, the recycling rate has reached an incredible 70%. Would we not all like that in Ireland ? Flanders ' waste recovery to energy rate is 26% and its disposal rate is a mere 4%.
They are able to do this because they have in place the waste management infrastructure, which includes incineration - the Green Party must get its head out of the clouds and have its policy rooted in the real world. We need to be honest about this. It is part of how Ireland will deal, not only with its waste problem but equally with helping energy generation. It is something we should be embracing.
Because the Green Party has never had the responsibility of office, it has never had to nail its colours to the mast. I am sorry the people from Ringsend are not here because they deserve an honest reply in response and a policy from their public representatives. That is why, to finish the sentence for the Green Party, they might tell the people what they will do and how they will do it. Unfortunately, the closest I have seen up the Green Party come to a policy is in terms of zero waste.
It is not possible. A policy rooted in such a scenario is not dealing with the real world. The pages that all the Deputies produced last night to help with their speeches is waste generated. I agree it can be recycled but the recycling system wastes energy too. This notion of zero waste is an utter fallacy. I am sure Fine Gael and the Labour Party are quite anxious about this. We must get the Green Party grounded in real policies.
The Green Party has always gone into the politics of the negative. I will not list and quote statistics about what the Government has done here because they have been recited previously. We have a good track record.
Nobody will deny there are problems but if everybody in this House were honest, they would agree that some type of energy waste recovery facility is required and will be delivered in this country.
We should all back it because the alternative, as we all know, is noxious, poisonous landfill. I was watching on television quite recently the opening of a new landfill site in Galway .
On the same day a planning application had gone in to extend the Indaver facility in Meath. The television reporter stated he knew which place he would like to live next to. People, particularly from the Green Party, are most dishonest about emissions.
According to well known statistics, what happens in back gardens is far more noxious. Unfortunately, people burn stuff in back gardens. Certainly, living near a thermal treatment facility is much safer than living beside a landfill. It is not the route we should go. Landfill does not work and we need to minimise it.