Green Party NI call for urgent clearance of North Belfast illegal dump

FOR RELEASE 

Green Party Deputy Leader Mal O’Hara has said that the NI Environment Agency (NIEA) and other statutory agencies must urgently clear and cleanse the site of an illegal dump on the Crumlin Road, North Belfast. 

The North Belfast Councillor commented: “There is an urgent need to clear the illegal dump and address the health risks to people living in the area.  

“The accounts of rat infestation and swarms of flies around the site are harrowing. This is having a huge effect of people’s health, it’s causing serious anxiety and is negatively impacting their lives overall.

“There are questions to answer as to how the illegal dump developed across a number of weeks without intervention from Belfast City Council or the NI Environment Agency. 

“Northern Ireland already has the very dubious honour of hosting the largest illegal dump in Western Europe in the form of the Mobuoy dump, outside Derry. 

“Mobuoy and this latest illegal dump in North Belfast show that the NIEA is failing in its enforcement and regulatory remit. Environmental crime is well established in Northern Ireland and a more rigorous approach is needed to deal with it. 

“That’s why the Green Party NI supports the call for the creation of an Independent Environmental Protection Agency for Northern Ireland. 

“It’s not an option to hope for the best with the bodies we have and tolerate recurring incidents of environmental crime and destruction. 

“Our communities deserve much better - including the people in North Belfast whose health is being jeopardised by this disgusting illegal dump.”