News

Just four fines issued for bonfire offences in three years

A bonfire last year at Lanark Way on Belfast's Shankill Road
A bonfire last year at Lanark Way on Belfast's Shankill Road A bonfire last year at Lanark Way on Belfast's Shankill Road

Just four fines have been issued to bonfires in Northern Ireland in the last three years.

Environment officials have investigated a total of 93 complaints about bonfires since 2014, detailed records obtained by The Irish News reveal.

Complaints included stacks of tyres being burnt, fly-tipping and fears over loyalist pyres built too close to houses and children's playgrounds.

But in the vast majority of cases, no enforcement action was taken by the department. Only four bonfires were the subject of fixed penalty notices, while a further two cases are ongoing.

Pat Catney, SDLP assembly member for Lagan Valley, expressed concern over the lack of penalties issued by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA).

However, NIEA defended its enforcement record, saying many of the incidents reported are referred to councils.

Mr Catney said: "Everyone has a responsibility to protect our environment and leave a better place behind for future generations.

"If the Northern Ireland Environment Agency believes an offence has been committed then that should be followed up with an appropriate penalty.

"I am concerned that a precedent is being set for further inaction on NIEA's part in future instances of the burning of controlled waste on bonfires.

"The public is left asking a number of questions from this revelation, not least were there any political considerations to the decisions not to pursue an offence in these many cases?"

Details of the NIEA investigations were uncovered by The Irish News through a freedom of information request.

How The Irish News revealed that a senior environment official branded Paul Givan's lighting of a bonfire an "offence"
How The Irish News revealed that a senior environment official branded Paul Givan's lighting of a bonfire an "offence" How The Irish News revealed that a senior environment official branded Paul Givan's lighting of a bonfire an "offence"

Four £300 fixed penalty notices were issued – twice relating to a bonfire at Jubilee Park in Glynn near Larne, as well as the Cregagh estate in east Belfast, and waste ground in Newtownabbey.

Two enforcement cases are still being pursued following complaints in 2016.

In one incident, a vehicle was seen in July 2016 dumping tyres at a bonfire site in the Cregagh estate.

And in the same month a vehicle was stopped by police after being seen dumping tyres at a bonfire site in the Fountain area of Derry.

Most bonfire complaints to NIEA were in the Mid Ulster council area with 22 reports, followed by Belfast with 20, and Antrim and Newtownabbey with 19.

Mapped: NIEA investigations into bonfire complaints since 2014

The details come after The Irish News revealed in March that NIEA investigated former DUP minister Paul Givan for lighting a bonfire.

Mr Givan faced criticism last July when he was still communities minister for setting pallets alight to mark the Eleventh Night in south Tyrone.

At the time the DUP and executive departments repeatedly refused to respond to requests for a comment.

But the internal correspondence emerged showing how a senior environment official said it was "an offence".

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera), which is in charge of NIEA, then broke its eight-month silence to confirm the probe.

It said officials had "considered the evidence available" and offered Mr Givan advice as part of a "proportional response".

A Daera spokesman said lead responsibility for bonfire management rests with local councils.

"The agency receives numerous complaints relating to bonfire issues throughout the year. For auditing and tracking purposes all incidents are recorded and allocated a specific incident number," he said.

"However, the lead responsibility for bonfire management rests with local councils and as such many of the incidents reported to the NIEA are subsequently referred to the local council for action.

"In these instances the agency would take 'no further action'. Consequently, the majority of incidents will not attract enforcement action by NIEA.

"However, the NIEA will investigate more serious incidents and, where sufficient evidence is gathered, take enforcement action against those producers and/or carriers who, for example, allow tyres or hazardous waste to be deposited at bonfires."

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Some of the bonfire complaints probed by the Environment Agency

- Vehicle seen dumping tyres in Cregagh estate, Belfast, on the weekend before the Eleventh Night in 2016

- Waste dumped in July 2016 at a bonfire site near a playground to the rear of Princess Avenue, Cookstown

- About 400 tyres placed inside a circle of wooden pallets on a bonfire in July 2016 and a further 200 lying around the site in Belfast

- White lorry dumping tyres most nights at a bonfire site in Antrim in July 2016, which are then placed in the centre of the bonfire and concealed by pallets

- Bonfire site comprised of wooden pallets and about 40 tyres on land owned by the Housing Executive in the Derry and Strabane council area in July 2015

- Orange lodge reportedly organising a bonfire in a Co Antrim village in 2015 and requesting items to be donated for burning

- Halloween bonfire waste on a site adjacent to a residential home in Enniskillen in 2015, including tyres, pallets and waste such as mattresses

- Anonymous call in 2016 reporting 100 tyres dumped at a bonfire at Killyman, Dungannon

- Transit van loads of car tyres dumped in June 2016 with a "human chain of bonfire builders" passing them into the centre of the pyre in Craigavon

- About 30 tyres dumped for Eleventh Night bonfire in Belfast in 2015, with concerns that tyres are too close to houses to be safe when alight