The members of The Rotten to the Point Campaign Group who have been highlighting “The Evil Smell” case in Warrenpoint for almost a year and have now collected over 2500 signatures on their petition calling for the removal of the Re-Gen Waste Ltd waste operation from Warrenpoint Port, have written to DAERA Minister Andrew Muir to explain why they feel badly let down by his refusal in a letter of 25/7/24, to accept their request for a meeting to solve the ongoing foul smell nuisance/health hazard which hangs over so many lives in Warrenpoint and has been extensively documented in public meetings as well as print, broadcast and social media since last summer.
Rotten to the Point have said:
“Our letter includes a second invitation to meet us for an urgent briefing and a suggested solution to the Re-Gen public-nuisance stench, a problem which continues on the Minister’s watch, almost a year after his department (NIEA / DAERA) puzzlingly quadrupled Re-Gen’s annual waste allowance license during a period when NIEA was also documenting multiple non-compliances by Re-Gen of an earlier version of that licence.”
“In our message to Minister Muir, we state that NIEA officials apparently continue to tolerate a stench which has been at its strongest over the last few days, unfortunately coinciding with two upcoming major festivals coming to our town of Warrenpoint. We have made it clear that this intolerable foul smell and plague of flies rising from the open-air storage of odorous waste is harming our town and the Carlingford Lough area generally.”
“We have pointed out that the stench and storage issue of waste is also quite clearly an example of ongoing non-compliances of the condition in NIEA’s 2023 licence – the terms state that odorous wastes are only permitted “if stored in buildings providing containment of aerial emissions.” Countless recordings of witness statements from residents, Councillors, MLA’s and an MP combined with hours of time-stamped drone footage provide ample evidence that these waste piles in Warrenpoint Port are most definitely odorous and are clearly and very visibly stacked in the open-air, not in buildings.”
“In the Minister’s recent letter explaining that he did not feel it appropriate to meet us, he wrote that “However, I can advise that on 9th July 2024 I met with local elected members to discuss their concerns, and that of their constituents concerning this issue ”.
“We have suggested to the Minister that he appears to be more willing to speak to non-residents of Warrenpoint than residents like ourselves who have to deal with this plague on a daily basis. We have asked him why this is the case.
We have also sought urgent clarification on the Minister’s reference to ongoing litigation proceedings relating to the Re-Gen Waste Ltd facility within Warrenpoint Port, the “ongoing litigation” cited by him as a reason why “it would be not appropriate for him to accept our invitation (to meet) at this time.”
“If this is the case”, we have asked, “how do you justify meeting numerous politicians on the same matter, not one of whom is a resident of Warrenpoint and therefore not as well-placed as Warrenpoint residents like ourselves to brief you clearly and accurately on the realities of the stench problem.”
“We have also asked Minister Muir to explain “precisely which factors made it more appropriate to meet them” (the elected representatives) than to meet us, particularly as his meeting included representatives of Sinn Fein, a party represented on the Board of Warrenpoint Harbour Authority – the body which hosts the Re-Gen waste operation in Warrenpoint Port.
Within our second request for a meeting, we have also explained our need to discuss with the Minister the serious matter of the Re-Gen Waste Ltd waste management licence modifications by NIEA, apparently without planning permission – the September 2023 version 3 modification increases the former allowance from 116,244 tonnes to half a million tonnes per annum.”
“We have also expressed our proposed voluntary briefing to him (at no cost to his Department) through the presentation of documentary evidence showing that the company to which he/NIEA has issued a licence continues to be non-compliant in Warrenpoint Port.”
“We have not been found wanting in offering the MinIster/NIEA the opportunity to furnish us with Council planning permission (if it exists) for the NIEA modifications in September 2023 which quadrupled the Re-Gen non-compliant operation allowance licensed by NIEA.
Furthermore, we have reminded the Minister that the issue of Re-Gen non-compliance is not our invention, his NIEA officials have been documenting Re-Gen non-compliances of the NIEA licence since last summer – a matter which NIEA clearly noted with concern in writing as far back as September 2023 in an email to Sinn Fein’s Sinead Ennis.”
“The Minister’s letter of 25/7/24 to us states that: “My officials have considered those concerns and will take appropriate and proportionate action to ensure that Ren Gen comply with the conditions of their waste management licence…”).
This suggests that, almost one year after expressing their concerns to Sinn Fein regarding Re-Gen non-compliance in Warrenpoint Port, Minister Muir/NIEA is still promising implementation of the licence conditions rather than enforcing them.”
“We have asked him to explain the reason for the delay, particularly given that NIEA was already expressing concern at non-compliance last September.
We acknowledge that the best brains and efforts of NIEA, Warrenpoint Harbour Authority, NMDDC and Re-Gen Waste have been applied to finding a solution to their combined creation and implanting of the stench debacle in Warrenpoint.”
“For almost a year now, we have respected their combined requests for patience in solving the problem but our patience and respect, like their best efforts, have not been rewarded.
Fortunately, we can provide the Minister with a solution to the problem which has been proposed and agreed by representatives of the three political parties attending the sole South Down General Election hustings which was held in Warrenpoint on the 26th of June 2024.”
“That solution, to end the Re-Gen Waste open-air waste storage operation in Warrenpoint, has also been underwritten by the multiple signatures which we propose to present to the Minister if he is prepared to meet us during or before our Solidarity Walk and Peaceful Protest when people who feel that the democratic process has now been exhausted take to the streets in Warrenpoint on August 15th, meeting outside WHA Headquarters at 6:30pm for a walk to the entrance of Warrenpoint Port.”
“We have ended our letter to the Minister (as we end this Press Release) with some quotes from residents, badly affected by this foul smell, who have taken to social media over the last few days …
“The flies in my house in Clermont are horrendous” …….
“Could smell inside work..dental surgery, it was gross” …….
“Walking down Duke Street my 3-year-old asked what the smell was”……
“They should come up the Bridle now, it’s disgusting ” ……
“The smell is very bad this evening its getting worse it’s absolutely stinking”
“Can’t stop being physically sick this last week due to smell and burning eyes – wha and regen don’t care for residents”
Further information can be found in our online petition at https://my.uplift.ie/petitions/get-re-gen-waste-out-of-warrenpoint
ENDS
CLANRYE NEWS 