Cork County Council has been slammed over a deal with waste management firm Indaver to landfill 40,000 tonnes of ash every year from the proposed Ringaskiddy Incinerator.

The Green Party has expressed serious concerns and said the news has taken the residents by surprise.

Green Party representative in Cork North Central, Oliver Moran, said the prospect of trucks carrying waste ash from the incinerator coming out of the tunnel and passing through Tivoli, Mayfield, Ballyvolane and Blackpool en route to landfill at Bottlehill is something that will scare many people in the area.

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Mr Moran said: "It is reckless of Cork County Council not to have consulted with residents. This wasn't included in the Environmental Impact Statement for the plant. There was no indication that this was coming.

"The so-called 'state of the art dump' at Bottlehill has lain empty since 2007 because of falling demand for landfill and EU fines for landfilling biodegradable material. That mothballed folly cost us €48 million, which Cork County Council has to justify. The plan to route ash from the incinerator is clearly an attempt to circumvent EU rules by first burning easily recyclable waste at Ringaskiddy and then burying it in Bottlehill.

"The Bottlehill story teaches us an important lesson. By the time the Bottlehill site was ready, it was no longer needed. We should learn a lesson from this and not make the same mistake at Ringaskiddy. The incinerator wouldn't be operational for ten years or so and will most likely be redundant before it's finished as we improve the way we reduce-reuse-recycle."

(CD)