by Alan Jacques
FORMER Mayor Kevin Sheahan predicts “a serious health crisis” if plans for a gasification plant at the former Gortadroma landfill site in County Limerick are allowed to proceed.
Council party leaders were due to meet with the local authority executive this Wednesday evening to discuss the legal implications of backing out of the lease with US consortium Cadence EnviroPower.
Cllr Sheahan was disappointed that the six Adare-Rathkeale representatives on the “front-lines” in dealing with the issue were not to be briefed first.
“I am terribly concerned. We don’t need legal advice we need suitably qualified consultants to come and brief us about gasification/incineration,” he told council members.
“If a fraction of what I have been told is true then it’s going to create a serious health problem. This cannot be allowed to proceed on health and safety grounds. It creates potential to damage health.”
The six local area councillors, he said, “stood united” in their opposition to the gasification plant. He called for an emergency meeting of Limerick City and County Council to urgently address the matter.
“If we let this go ahead we are failing in our duty and failing badly. We have a problem? We have not. We have a crisis,” Cllr Sheahan claimed.
Sinn Fein councillor Ciara McMahon said the initial presentation from the US company for a gasification plant in West Limerick lead her to “fail the people that elected me”.
“This is a stomach-turning situation and it’s gone on too long,” she concluded.
