It is a black day for the environment. This morning it was announced that in the Tánaiste's own Cork Harbour there is to be a 250,000 tonne incinerator. This is completely against modern European policy or any sort of circular economy. This afternoon we are hearing from the EPA that effectively we are going to have no emissions reductions by 2020. Everything this Government is doing is leading towards an emissions rise by 2030 rather than the dramatic cuts we need. Will the Tánaiste support the calls for a special Oireachtas committee to be set up that would take the Citizens' Assembly recommendations on climate change and bring in the Secretaries General from the relevant Departments? By the end of the year, we could see how we could raise ambition to turn around this damning indictment of what is happening in our country.

A number of Deputies are offering on that case - Deputies Michael McGrath, Sherlock, Ó Laoghaire and Buckley.

This really was an appalling decision by An Bord Pleanála. It shows a complete disregard for the views of the local community and the inspector. I want to raise two issues in that context.

One is the decision of the then Minister, Phil Hogan, in 2011 to abolish the incineration levy which the previous Minister, John Gormley, had introduced. Will the Government reconsider that issue?

The local group, the Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment, CHASE, has called for an investigation into two meetings which took place in March and July 2011 between Indaver, the company promoting this project, and the then Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, for which it would appear there is no record, minutes or documentation. That issue needs to be investigated.

I have to express my absolute disgust at this decision because it flies in the face of the democratic will of the people. Every public representative in County Cork gave evidence before the oral hearing. The people of Cork overwhelmingly did not want that incinerator to go ahead. There were countless numbers of deferrals. It is great that the Tánaiste, who is from the area, is here in the Chamber today. Will the Government give us some commitment that this decision will be fought on behalf of the people of Cork? It flies in the face of the Cork Lower Harbour philosophy of renewable and clean energy. We have been working for quite a number of years to clean up the industries in the area. This is an absolute kick in the teeth for the people of County Cork.

The people of Ringaskiddy and Cork Lower Harbour, as the Tánaiste knows, will be absolutely devastated by today's news. They have been fighting against this incinerator for well over a decade. It is wrong that three attempts were allowed to get to this point. It has been suggested in the last while by the former Senator, Dan Boyle, and my colleague, Deputy Michael McGrath, that incineration is a technology which is increasingly going out of fashion and is out of line with modern technologies. There was previously a levy on incineration to discourage its use. Will the Government now consider reintroducing an incineration levy?

This decision is detrimental to the whole Cork Harbour area. We are trying to promote tourism. This will be an absolutely diabolical scenario for the whole area of Cork affecting tourism and health. We have a hidden natural gem in the Cork area that we need to promote. People who are vehemently against this incinerator have put up a strong fight. I urge everyone to pull together and keep on fighting. We need to keep a cleaner environment in County Cork and across the country and promote our natural resources, namely, tourism and health.

I happen to live two miles from the site in question which is closer than any other Member, although Deputy Michael McGrath is pretty close to it too. I have been involved in discussions and debates around this issue for over ten years. I believe the decision made by An Bord Pleanála is the wrong one. I am not saying that for the first time. Anybody who wants to look at my views on this issue can check the detailed 40-minute presentation I made to the oral hearing on this issue. What is frustrating is that we won the argument. The inspector who was managing that oral hearing recommended a refusal.

We also need to respect the independence of An Bord Pleanála, however. It is an independent planning appeals body. I do not know the basis for its decision not to follow the recommendation of the inspector and of the oral hearings process. However, that is the decision it has made. I do not agree with it but it is a planning decision.

The main basis of my concern is that it was counter to the Government’s policy on the site concerned. The issue of incineration is a separate debate in terms of waste management and so forth. The site is the issue in this case. The State spent well over €15 million on the National Maritime College and €13 million on the Beaufort Research Laboratory across the road from the site. It has spent between €7 million and €10 million on Spike Island as a tourism project. The Government has committed €70 million to the reconditioning of Haulbowline Island, a large part of which will become a people's park. That was the basis of my objection to this site being chosen for this form of waste management and disposal. I am as disappointed and as frustrated as anybody to hear the outcome of An Bord Pleanála’s deliberations. However, I need to respect its independence. It is important all Members respect it as an independent agent of the State.