Minister for the Environment John Gormley has denied a Government split over waste incineration after the Taoiseach indicated that up to four incinerators may be required.
Mr Gormley said he and the Taoiseach were at one on the issue of waste incineration and accused Fine Gael of being mischevious by suggesting there was a contradiction.
Minister Gormley said that both he and the Taoiseach accepted that there would be overcapacity if all proposed incincerators were built.
But he agreed that there are four projects currently in the planning process, and it would not be possible for politicians to interfere with those.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny raised the issue in the Dáil this morning.
He pointed out that previous Government policy called for eight incinerators, while Mr Gormley had said a maximum of two would be required when new technologies and increased recycling were taken into account.
Mr Kenny asked the Taoiseach whether the Minister had been 'just spoofing' on the issue.
Mr Ahern said that perhaps we would not need eight incinerators, but that four had been mentioned in a number of reports.
He said that there are at least four major projects in the planning process and that the issue was not the number of incinerators, but rather the capacity of each one.
