Incinerator Inquiry Call Gains Momentum

Another politician has added his voice to what is fast becoming an overwhelming call for a public inquiry into the controversial Lough Neagh Incinerator.

Sitting MP William McCrea of the DUP last night threw his political clout behind growing demands for an inquiry, as it would be located in the South Antrim constituency.

Almost 100 people from the local community, local farmers, representatives of the eel fishermen and workers from Randox Laboratories attended a public meeting at Antrim Civic Centre to be told of the development.

They also heard that the previous night, Daphne Trimble, a Conservative and Unionist candidate in Lagan Valley, also called for a public inquiry, while party leader, Sir Reg Empey's position on this critical campaign issue 'remained a mystery'.

That's according to Ray Clarke, Chairman of Communities Against The Lough Neagh Incinerator (CALNI) who said that while they fully understood Mr Empey could not attend the meeting due to previous commitments, they could not understand why he would not send a message like William McCrea or a representative to speak on his behalf.

However, it later emerged that Sir Reg agreed to meet the pressure group.

"He will meet with us at the site in Glenavy and we hope that after he sees the impact of this monstrous proposal he will give us his full support," continued Mr Clarke.

"We are all making decisions on how we should vote in this Westminster election next week.

"Our campaign supporters stretch across all sections of the community and with 7,000 public letters of objection this is the biggest response to any planning application in Northern Ireland.

"This is the only issue for our community, the fishermen and the hundreds of Randox employees who could see their jobs go to Donegal, America or India if this incinerator is given planning permission," he alleged.

"We are very grateful to Michelle Byrne of the SDLP and Mitchel McLaughlin of Sinn Fein who not only attended our meeting and fully supported our calls for a public inquiry but showed they had a real grasp of the dangers this incinerator would pose to jobs and the environment," he continued.

Earlier, SDLP South Antrim MLA Thomas Burns said: "I am not happy that fears raised by Randox have apparently been dismissed by the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute while at the same time they give the impression that they are prepared to take a practically unquestioning attitude to the data supplied by Rose Energy - the business behind the proposed chicken waste incinerator.

"We have a duty to the public to ensure that we can properly scrutinize all the relevant issues. It is a subject that we must re-visit.

"Like many others across the community and political spectrum I have grave concerns regarding the lack of transparency surrounding the application by Rose Energy.

"There is a distinct lack of objectivity in terms of the message being put out by the company's spin doctors."

Ray Clarke continued by noting that the next phase is taking the fight back to the door of Environment Minister Edwin Poots.

"He granted a public inquiry into the runway at Belfast City Airport, the constituency of his party leader. We need to know what influence his party colleagues have in South Antrim and Lagan Valley."

See: Heed Incinerator Warnings: SDLP

(BMcC/GK)