The EU Petitions Committee has recommended that Dublin City Council and the planning authorities revisit their decision to site an incinerator in Poolbeg.
The delegation, which visited Ireland in June, questioned the choice of Poolbeg as a site for an incinerator for the city, and said it had meagre access, was close to residential areas and lacked roads adapted to heavy lorries.
Members of the committee met those opposed to the incinerator, including Fianna Fáil deputy Chris Andrews and the Combined Residents Against Incineration, and the council's assistant city manager Matt Twomey.
The committee's report, written by MEPs Marcin Libicki and Radu Podgorean, noted that 70,000 people lived within three kilometres of the site at Poolbeg, and it was close to the Irishtown nature park, known for Brent geese and water fowl.
It said if the incinerator was built it would be one of the largest in the EU, burning 760,000 tonnes of waste each year. It had not been confirmed, the report said, that a project of that magnitude would conform to EU directives on waste incineration and on pollution. There was also some doubt whether all the provisions of the environmental impact assessment directives had been complied with.
The report described Dublin Bay as an area of high conservation importance, and noted that specific sites, including the Liffey and Tolka estuaries and Sandymount strand, were adjacent to the proposed development. It said this had not been included in the environment impact assessment for the project.
It said the issues were being raised at a time when incineration as a form of waste disposal was being "discarded completely by many of Europe's regions".
It recommended that "further more serious consideration should be given by the Irish Environmental Protection Agency, by the National Planning Board, by Dublin City Council and by the Department of the Environment to these issues and to their level of compliance with the EC directives mentioned".
It also recommended that the European Commission review the committee's findings.
The delegation also visited areas in the country with water supply problems. The report said it was a "remarkable anomaly and a great shame" that Ireland should have such difficulty ensuring the provision of clean water.
Other issues addressed in the report included concerns about the N8 road scheme at Watergrasshill, Co Cork.
Locals had said the road was not being used because toll charges were too high and traffic was affecting the village. The report said it was a source of concern that the objective of EU funding for the road was to reduce pressure and pollution in Watergrasshill, yet this was not happening.
