Proposals for the expansion of a Co Meath incinerator has been given the go ahead by the Irish planning board.

The Indaver Ireland plant will now be able to raise its capacity after the controversial 31 conditioned decision by An Bord Pleanála, allowing the facility to accept waste materials from outside the originally proposed counties of Cavan, Monaghan and Louth.

Extending its present 150,000 tonnes of waste a year capacity to 200,000, the plant will be powering over 19,000 homes by burning refuse.

The decision will see the site of the plant expand by 25 per cent, and a 25 metre extension to its already towering 40 metre chimney.

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The ruling is argued to be one of the most scrutinised planning proposals in Ireland ever and has involved two Bord Pleanála rulings, two High Court rulings, a Supreme Court ruling and an EPA licensing ruling, all of which found in favour of the plan.

Mr John Ahern, Managing Director of Indaver Ireland said: "We will be in a position to commence construction early next year. This will make it one of the few projects which will be operational by 2010 and able to contribute to meeting this requirement"

The final ruling comes only a week after Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, announced that Ireland requires no more than two incinerators to deal with waste, which cannot be recycled or processed.

A US company, Energy Answers, applied for fast track planning in Co Dublin in September for a 700,000 tonne capacity incinerator, which is vying for position with the proposed Poolbeg facility. A decision on these plants is still being considered.

(DW/SP)