Organisations working on issues affecting Lough Neagh have called for a proposed cap of £50,000 on serious water pollution incidents to be scrapped.
The cap is set out in the forthcoming Fisheries, Aquaculture and Water Environment Bill at Stormont which will introduce an increased maximum penalty for water pollution offences.
However, a group of organisations feel the bill falls short of what’s required to improve water quality.
They include the River Blackwater Catchment Trust, the Ballinderry Rivers Trust, the Lough Neagh Rivers Trust, Friends of the Earth NI, The Rural Community Network, The Lough Neagh Partnership, the Lough Neagh Development Trust, Development Trusts NI and the Ulster Angling Federation
David Kennedy from the Lough Neagh Rivers Trust said the aim of new legislation was to align with practices in the UK.
“However the opportunity has been missed by placing a cap of only £50,000 on the most serious pollution offences,” he said.
“What we have seen in England, Scotland and Wales is the possibility of unlimited financial penalties, known as Variable Monetary Penalties, for the most serious of offences where offending is proved to a criminal standard and much larger cap of £500,000 for cases brought under civil law as a serious deterrent to pollution.
“Further to this, the forthcoming Stormont Bill fails to update the 1966 Act with a clearer, more concise, definition of ‘deleterious matter’ i.e. polluting materials entering our waterways and does not change the wording ‘cause or knowingly permit’ allowing polluters to claim that not having knowledge or claiming an accident acts in their defence.”
He concluded by saying that the organisations are concerned Stormont is legislating for more of the same for Lough Neagh.
They are concerned legislative power will not reach a standard where it’s able to improve and protect waterways, lakes, rivers and ultimately our drinking water.
