Cross-Border environmental crime targeted by NI minister

Northern Ireland environment minister Mark Durkan has called for a "war on environmental crime" including fuel laundering and infiltration of the waste management industry by organised crime.

Mr Durkan said a crackdown on environmental crime should involve a full time, multi-disciplinary force involving police, gardaí, customs and environmental investigators on either side of the Border.

Separately he called for the setting up of an all-island environmental protection agency independent of political control.

Speaking at the Environment Ireland 2015 conference in Croke Park, Mr Durkan said authorities North and South need to step up a gear to work jointly and effectively to tackle the infiltration of the waste industry by organised crime and to deal with the “scourge” of fuel laundering.

He said the Border region and Newry, Mourne and the South Armagh area in particular was “plagued” with the dumping of fuel-laundered waste.

“Without strong co-ordinated North-South action, criminals will continue to rob our economies of vast sums of money through the sale of illegal fuel and to poison and pollute our environment and potentially harm people,” he said.

He said such crimes were not victimless and polluted the health of humans and animals while harming water courses in rivers and lakes.

Mr Durkan said it was his strong view that there should be a “presumption against unconventional hydrocarbon extraction”, known as “fracking” until there is sufficient and robust evidence on environmental impacts.

He said he was pleased authorities on both sides of the Border were jointly bringing forward research on fracking.

He said authorities North and South had made a joint application to the EU Interreg fund for €72 million to work on terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments.

Both governments are continuing to work on river basin management plans and a cross-Border project will employ 14 researchers with the aim of establishing a training network for specialists dealing with the remediation of contaminated land.

Director general of the EPA Laura Burke said all public bodies should use influence and budgets to drive the green economy through green public procurement.

She used examples of how companies can save money on energy, water and waste bills “reducing their impact on the environment while increasing competitiveness”.

“Last year, for example, we worked with one meat factory to save €150,000 in a single year through smart water and energy use,” she said.

Environment Ireland is tweeting with the hashtag #environmentireland2015