SENATOR Cecilia
Keaveney has expressed her concern at plans to
increase the amount of dumping in Lough Foyle.
The Port of Derry Company has a permit to dispose
15,000 tonnes of dredge spoil at a specified
dumpsite. The port now wants to increase this to
80,000 tonnes.
Senator Keaveney said the increase, if allowed,
could have "potentially huge implications for the
Foyle and its users, and in particular for the
aquaculture industry".
She said she was alarmed that the Fisheries Minister
in the Republic, Brendan Smith nor his department
had any knowledge of a request for a licence to
expand levels of dumping in Lough Foyle.
“When I contacted him about this, Minister Smith
said that he shares my views that nothing should
happen in the Foyle which might have a significant
detrimental impact on the aquaculture industry
generally. The aquaculture industry in Lough Foyle
is a very valuable natural resource based industry
which provides critical employment and wealth
generation in the Inishowen area," she said.
“To approve an increase in the existing license to
80,000 tonnes with no consultation with his
Department is contrary to the spirit of the Good
Friday Agreement i.e., talk ‘co-operation’ and then
act unilaterally,” said an angry Senator Keaveney.
In a letter to the local senator, Minister Smith
said "it would be expected that the authorities
would seek his Department’s views of an application
of this scope and nature". He said he had now
instructed his officials to engage immediately with
the Northern authorities regarding the proposal with
a view to obtaining precise details of the nature of
the application. Mr Smith said he wanted assurances
"regarding the trans boundary consultation aspect of
this and applications of a similar nature".
Meanwhile, Senator Keaveney said she was confident
her intervention "was important from an
environmental and economic perspective".
“We have a great resource in the Foyle. However if
there are multiple agencies and departments that
make decisions in isolation without due regard for
how they impact on the ‘bigger picture’, we are in
danger of ruining that resource entirely," she said. |
