Power plant deadline

Opponents refer to the power plant as a incinerator

Critics of a plan to build a controversial power plant close to the Irish border in County Monaghan have to register their objections by Wednesday.

The £40m biomass power plant would burn mushroom compost, poultry litter and wood chips to make electricity.

The Irish Government says emissions from the plant will be harmless, but opponents believe pollution will be carried in the wind up to 25 miles inside Northern Ireland.

The plant is planned by two brothers who want a way of dealing with the waste from their large poultry farm.

If given the go-ahead, the power plant would generate 30 megawatts of electricity from the Republic of Ireland's grid.

But objectors on both sides of the border say the plant is an incinerator which will spread air pollution, such as dioxins, within a 25-mile radius of the plant, to towns in Northern Ireland like Armagh, Dungannon, Omagh and Enniskillen.

They say the dioxins will be ingested by farm animals, harming human health and the agriculture industry.

Maurice McCarron believes the public are being misled

Maurice McCarron of Monopower Ltd, one of the brothers behind the project, said some of the information reaching the public was misleading.

"People are not necessarily against it, they are just completely confused.

"People are aware of the waste problem in Monaghan, Fermanagh and Tyrone and they know something has to be done about it. This has a proven track record."

The Irish Government insists the emissions will be harmless, coming from a type of power plant that is needed to deal with environmentally harmful agricultural waste.

The plant has been in the pipeline for 12 years and would take 18 months to build, if given the go-ahead.

However, planning approval could take more than a year given the contentious nature of the plan and a concerted campaign of opposition.