Republican News · Thursday 15 August 2002

Too much democracy is bad for you

BY ROBBIE MacGABHANN

What a week for the coalition government and in particular Environment minister Martin Cullen. Not content with sneaking stealth taxes onto hundreds of thousands of 26-County households, the minister has also pronounced that there is too much democracy in the 26 Counties.

Yes we are "overdemocratised" according to Cullen, who wants to bypass local government when it comes to debating and voting on decisions for granting planning permission to incinerator proposals and other waste management projects.

The minister's "fast track" and "one stop shop" approach is driven by a desire to "cut to the chase". Cullen said, "I am not interested in more great debates".

Cullen's other great proposal is to introduce a levy on households of up to €5 a week on their refuse. The logic behind these proposals is to "get people to recycle more" said Cullen.

Here local government does have a role for the minister. They will collect the new taxes from households who are being effectively denied any say in the waste management strategy.

Sinn Féin TD Caomhghin ó Caoláin described minister Cullens' proposals as "outrageous". ó Caoláin said: "Once again the government plans to make the householder and not the polluter pay. The last government and its predecessors failed miserably to manage our massive waste problem. They have presided over the lowest levels of waste reduction and recycling in Europe."

Highlighting the magnitude of that failure, ó Caoláin said that "this government and its predecessors have failed to put in place a national strategy aimed at reducing the output of waste by manufacturers, the packaging and retail industries and the construction industry.

"They have failed to create an infrastructure to recycle the maximum possible volume of waste. Instead they stood idly by last month while the State's only glass recycling plant - the Irish Glass Bottle company in Ringsend - was closed with the loss of hundreds of jobs.

"Rather than target the producers of waste the government has based its waste management policy on a network of incinerators which will need a constant stream of refuse to operate. And now it plans to penalise even further the householders who find themselves at the end of the waste chain, having to dispose of waste they did not create. Minister Cullen's plan must and will be resisted."

Complaining that the government is "knee deep in reports|", Martin Cullen has decided to paper over the cracks in the governments waste management strategy by pushing through as many incinerator projects as possible. This no doubt will make the waste management industry happy.

The employers organization IBEC has welcomed Cullen's proposals, which isn't surprising given that the new charges on households means a let off for IBEC member companies, who are the main producers of packaging waste. Interestingly, both IBEC and the government seem to be against discussing a zero waste option. In IBEC's case, there is the money to be made from building and then running incinerator projects.

Already, 25 expressions of interest have been received by the Dublin government for building a so-called waste to energy incinerator in Dublin's Poolbeg area. The €200 million incinerator will generate millions for its new owners through burning up to 400,000 tons annually of the city's waste.

So here we have the holy trinity of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats in government. Undermine and erode local democracy. Help industry make as much profit as possible without regard to the consequences. Finally, make the consumer pay for it all.

excellent day's work for everybody.