West Tyrone Sinn Fein Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Sinn Féin press for action on fly tipping issue

Published: 27 June, 2009

Local farmer Kevin Murray highlights the extent of flytipping on his land near Eskra. Pictured with Sinn Féin rep. Glenn Campbell and Pat Doherty MP

Local farmer Kevin Murray highlights the extent of flytipping on his land near Eskra. Pictured with Sinn Féin rep. Glenn Campbell and Pat Doherty MP

West Tyrone MP Pat Doherty has urged the Department of Environment to take urgent steps to address a serious issue of fly tipping on farmland near Eskra, Co. Tyrone. Mr Doherty visited the location on Friday along with Sinn Féin representative Glenn Campbell and landowner, Kevin Murray.

Speaking after his visit, Mr Doherty said that he was totally astounded by what he saw. According to the MP, "this farmland has been the location for illegal dumping for several years. The waste I witnessed ranged from animal carcasses to industrial and household rubbish.

"The landowner, Mr Murray feels totally powerless to stop this, and has made repeated attempts to prevent the dumping occurring. For instance, he has erected signage and has constructed fencing to keep people out. Despite the risk to his health, Mr Murray has consistently removed the waste and deposited it at the local civic amenity site.

"Following a request from Mr Murray, I organised a site meeting on Friday with representatives from DOE. At the meeting it was impressed upon the officials that the DOE must take a more proactive approach in helping Mr Murray to address the issue.

"It was stressed that Mr Murray is a small scale farmer who does not have the capacity or resources to monitor this portion of his holdings for 24 hours a day and that he has made strenuous efforts to have the matter resolved, but to no avail.

West Tyrone Sinn Féin representative, Glenn Campbell, who also visited the site with Mr Doherty, said

"What is most surprising is that DOE are holding Mr Murray responsible for the illegal dumping, despite his repeated attempts at trying to prevent it from happening.

"What is also worrying is that the Department of Agriculture have threatened to withdraw Mr Murray's Countryside Management Scheme, alleging a breach of terms and conditions due to the 'Dumping of waste'. A small scale farmer such as Mr Murray relies totally on subsidies to make the farm business viable, and any attempt to remove these will effectively put him out of business.

"As the representative for this area, I am requesting that both Departments (DOE and DARD) adopt a joined up approach to resolve this serious environmental issue.

Mr Doherty added "The current DOE policy on responsibility for fly tipping has implications beyond this particular case. As the MP and MLA for this area I will continue to press both departments on the issue and will be raising the matter at Ministerial level at the earliest opportunity".