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The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has said
it will not withdraw its report which is critical of the Environment
Minister John Gormley’s incineration policies.
The institute defended the report - described by Mr Gormley
as deficient,
misleading and not based on the facts - and said it
was irrelevant whether or not it pleased Mr Gormley.
However, following a re-examination of the report
- An Economic Approach to Waste Management Policy in Ireland
- published in the past month, the ESRI has admitted it made
an error by presuming emissions from the Poolbeg incinerator
would be covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
The report’s lead author, Prof Paul Gorecki, said this was
the “only one valid criticism” of the report and it did not
change the substance of the report or its conclusions.
In making the error in relation to the ETS, the ESRI had
set recommended levies for incineration at €4.22 to €5.07
per tonne of waste. When the correction was made, levies would
then be in the region of €9.80 to €10.70 per tonne.
This was still far lower than a €26 levy proposed by the
International Review of Waste Management Policy, commissioned
by Mr Gormley from environmental consultants Eunomia. Consequently,
the institute’s change did not alter its conclusions or its
comments on the Eunomia review, Mr Gorecki said. “No matter
which way you look at it, the conclusions we came to remain
broadly the same.”
The ESRI report, commissioned by Dublin City Council, supported
the case for the construction of the Poolbeg incinerator.
Moreover, it found Mr Gormley’s policies aimed at diverting
waste from incineration had “no underlying rationale” and
were likely to impose “needless costs on the economy”.
It criticised the Eunomia review, as “severely flawed”. It
noted the review must be “considered a failure” in terms of
“setting residual waste levies, per capita targets
for reduction in residual waste and guidance on the appropriate
mix of waste technologies”.
Prof Gorecki said the ESRI had not had direct contact from
Mr Gormley in relation to its report. He said it was inevitable
that sometimes the institute’s conclusions would conflict
with Government policy. “We call it as we see it. Sometimes
a Minister may not like it - sometimes they do.”
He also defended charging the city council €103,000 plus
VAT for the report. Mr Gormley had said they had allowed themselves
to be “used” by the city council to undermine the international
review. “We estimated how many days it would take. It was
paid for at the usual rate,” Prof Gorecki said.
Mr Gormley said he welcomed the fact that the ESRI had corrected
the report’s “significant errors”. However, he added he was
somewhat surprised the organisation had decided that they
did not need to amend the report’s conclusions. The Minister
said he would look at the report as he would “any report commissioned
by a vested interest”.
Meanwhile, the Minister has appointed
a senior barrister to examine the financial liabilities of
the contract for Dublin City Council’s Poolbeg incinerator.
Source - The Irish Times
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