SDLP Assembly Member for Newry and Armagh Justin McNulty MLA has said more must be done to protect our watercourses and has called on the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to engage with landowners to help prevent incidents from occurring in the first place.
Mr McNulty said, ‘The protection of our environment has to be a priority for everyone if we are to pass on this beautiful land to future generations. We see a lot of focus on the amount of litter on our rural roads and on the illegal dumping of waste.’
‘However there is less of a public focus on the amount of pollution incidents in watercourses. I tabled an Assembly Question of Minister Poots to establish the real extent of the pollution incidents across the North and was astonished and shocked by the scale of the problem.’
‘Over the last three years there have been an astonishing 2,813 pollution incidents across the north, around 940 each year with Newry and Armagh being the third highest with over 100 incidents each year. This is an appalling damage to our natural environment and watercourses. This is more than a few fish kills here and there, this is a sustained attack on the watercourses and all the animal and plant life that depend on our watercourse for survival.’
‘This cannot continue, we need greater engagement with landowners along our watercourses and there must be greater encouragement to protect our environment. Where the problem persists there must be a greater focus on enforcement. In the same period where we had 2,813polution incidents, we 57 investigations and only 19 resulted in some form of action. This is completely unacceptable and is no deterrent. We need to see more education, more engagement and more enforcement if that is the only way of getting the message through.’
ENDS
CLANRYE NEWS 