In the early hours of this morning I am forced to raise the question of the incinerator at the Cork Regional Hospital. The incinerator is antiquated, inefficient and overloaded. It deals with all kinds of chemical wastes, ranging from everyday domestic waste to clinical hospital waste, such as disposable syringes, petri dishes and saline bags.
Because the incinerator is antiquated there is no facility by which the emission gases can be analysed and monitored. It is ironic that an incinerator in a health institution should be such a health hazard to those in the surrounding area. As I have said, no analysis is being carried out on the emission gases, but I would safely say that coming out of that chimney stack must be dioxins, hydrochloric gas and other undesirable emissions. The incinerator is a health hazard in a residential area and, as well as affecting the residential areas of Bishopstown the emission gases are being swept over the city of Cork by the south-west prevailing winds.
Tonight I should like the Minister to say whether he is prepared to allow an allocation to the Southern Health Board so that the board may instal a more modern incinerator in the grounds of the regional hospital or whether the matter will be delat with in a broader sense in that the Minister might consider the setting up of a national incinerator for the burning of all clinical waste in this country, rather than having a large number of hospital incinerators dotted throughout the country. The issue is linked to the question of our national waste management policy or, rather, our lack of such a policy. I ask the Minister to indicate tonight what steps he proposes to take; does he propose to make the allocation asked for by the health board or does he intend to deal with the issue in the broader sense of a national incinerator for all hospital and clinical waste in this country?
