Environmentalists condemn courts over pollution fines

An environmental group has criticised fines handed down to polluters by the courts after a waste disposal company was found guilty of polluting a tributary of Lough Neagh.

Ulster Farm By-Products was fined £3,600 at Antrim Magistrates Court on Monday, June 5th. This was for a number of instances of pollution after water samples from the Gleneavy River showed pollutants were considerably higher than the acceptable level.
Samples were taken by officers from the Environmental Heritage Services on four occasions between April and June 2005.
Lisa Fagan from Friends of the Earth stated that the £3,600 fine was unacceptable because of the high level of pollution.
“Legislation passed in 1999 allows for a maximum fine of £20,000 to be imposed on water polluters,” she said.
“Why then when the level of pollution was 180 times greater than the acceptable limit, was a fine of only £900 (for each instance) imposed, particularly as the company was a repeat offender?

“Magistrates need to join the 21st century and embrace a modern definition of crime, one which attached proper significance to offences against the environment.”
A spokesman for Ulster Farm By-Products’ parent company, Glenfarm Holdings, said that the court cases related to samples taken before the company had built a new treatment facility.