Galway Councillors betray people
Meath to reconsider plan's acceptance
Galway for a Safe Environment (GSE), and the 25,000 people who
petitioned against incineration in the county are enraged at this
week's betrayal by Fianna Fáil and PD councillors. On Monday
last, Galway Corporation reversed its decision, taken only six
months ago, to reject Minister Noel Dempsey's plans for an
incinerator in Galway. The tight vote was 8 to 7 for the plan's
reinstatement.
`` Minister Dempsey's bully boy threats to councillors to rubber
stamp his plans for incineration, which the people in Galway have
overwhelmingly rejected,'' have worked,'' says Sinn Féin's Arthur
Morgan, a leading campaigner against incineration in Louth. ``This
vote deeply undermines local democracy. The vote is no more than
an exercise in `party loyalty' if not patronage. It is an out and
out betrayal which makes a mockery of local democracy.
``In Louth and in Meath, as in Galway, we have done our very best
to inform councillors of the dangers of incineration and the
quite viable alternatives open to local government in meeting its
obligation to draw up and implement waste disposal in their
areas.''
Morgan has an injunction against the Chair of Louth County
Council, who took the liberty of deciding a vote to reverse
Louth's opposition to incineration without the required two
thirds majority. The judicial review of this decision is expected
to be heard next week.
Following a well-attended public meeting expressing concerns over
incineration, Meath Sinn Féin Councillor Joe Reilly proposed a
special meeting for councillors to reconsider their decision to
accept the Minister's proposed plan for incineration at
Carranstown. On Monday the council agreed (by 22 votes to 3, with
1 abstention and 3 absent) to Reilly's proposal to hold a special
meeting to reconsider their earlier acceptance of the North East
Regional Waste Plan. As yet no date for the meeting has been
fixed.
``Will our councillors allow themselves to be railroaded by the
Minister in Meath just as they were in Galway?'' asks Joe Reilly,
``or, will they respect the clear call from the people in Duleek
last week, not to allow incineration.
``I am looking to Meath councillors to establish real democracy in
the county.''
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)