Residents in Dublin have raised serious concerns after seeing "clouds of steam" billowing from the Poolbeg Incinerator during test firing.

The Green Party has called for comprehensive real-time data on the incinerator to be made to the public.

Party leader Eamon Ryan TD said: "The concerns show the need for absolute transparency on what is happening within the facility. The EPA has the right, within the terms of the licence agreement, to set monitoring conditions. We are calling on them to ensure all real-time information regarding temperatures, transport routes, use of carbon in the scrubbing facility, and the level of hazardous residues within the bottom and fly ash are immediately made available to the public.

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"Such information should be displayed both online and in a public location close to the facility. There are real concerns about the control of dioxins from incineration. The final arrangements regarding the monitoring regime is still being considered by the EPA. The plant will fire up properly next week and we will be demanding that the EPA does its job to protect the public from all eventualities. The report of cattle dying in Silvermines due to legacy industrial pollution problems make the case for the level of vigilance we need.

"We were opposed to the incinerator from the start. We think it is the wrong technology in the wrong location at the wrong scale but our job now is to monitor the operations to make sure nothing goes wrong."

(CD/LM)