Environment Minister John Gormley has appointed a senior counsel to carry out an independent report on the proposed Poolbeg incinerator.

His announcement comes as the ESRI confirms it’s standing over its report which supports Dublin City Council’s case for the controvercial waste facility.

John Hennessy will now examine the risks and implications of the incinerator which is in John Gormley’s consituency on behalf of his department.

The ESRI and the Environment Minister have been involved in war of words after the economic think-thank published a report that contradicted minister Gorley’s waste policies