‘Victims of illegal dumping must not be punished’ – Brady | Latest Newry News, Newry Sport and Newry Business for Newry City

‘Victims of illegal dumping must not be punished’ – Brady

Newry MLA Mickey Brady has said innocent landowners and ratepayers must not be left with the bill for clearing up cubes of toxic waste dumped in the countryside.

“While the blame for this activity must fall entirely on those who are carrying it out,” Brady told Newry Times, “we must not allow a situation to develop where people who have had this toxic waste dumped on their land have to pay to get rid of it.

“The cost of removing these cubes can easily run into thousands, an expense many farmers struggling to keep their heads above water simply cannot afford. We must not allow the victim of a crime to be punished for having a crime carried out against them.

The Sinn Fein MLA continued, “I am calling on Minister Durkan and the Environment Agency to clarify what the process is for removing these cubes and to give assurances that landowners and ratepayers will not be punished for the actions of others.”

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein councillor Terry Hearty said uncertainty over who is responsible for removing the toxic sludge is causing the countryside to be poisoned. “We have made Environmental Health and the Environmental Agency well aware of the sites all over south Armagh where this sludge has been dumped but they still have not been removed.”

He added, “We need a concentrated cross-border effort to tackle this activity and the Environment Agency must to stop turning a blind eye to it.”

Short URL: https://newrytimes.com/?p=49250

Posted by on Feb 25 2015. Filed under Community, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Leave a Reply







Find us on Facebook

Log in | Designed by Gabfire themes