DUP asks for help on illegal dumping
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NORTHERN IRELAND'S Democratic Unionist Party has contacted European Environment Commissioner Margot WallstrOm, urging her to take enforcement action against the Irish government for allowing illegal dumping from its j urisdiction in the province.
Assembly member Edwin Poots estimates that at least a quarter of a million tonnes of waste from the Republic has been buried in illegal landfills in the North.
"Contractors are being paid huge amounts of money to legitimately dispose of waste from the Republic of Ireland," he says. Instead, they are exploiting the complacency of the Department of Environment in Northern Ireland and the compliance of the Irish government to illegally dump waste across the border,netting them huge profits and turning them into millionaires.
"Lorries and tractors carrying huge trailers of waste are travelling from all parts of the Republic of Ireland to dump their waste in Northern Ireland and the question must be asked what the Irish government is doing to intercept these vehicles before they cross the border."
Poots says his party's MEP, Jim Allister, will highlight this issue in the European parliament.