MID Ulster District Council is to write to the Agriculture Minister, calling for him to introduce tougher penalties in an attempt to bring an end to slurry spills in local rivers.
The request to write the letter was brought forward by Councillor Malachy Quinn at the council’s monthly meeting on Thursday, June 23 and comes after a recent apparent slurry spill in the River Torrent.
Providing the chamber with details of the incident, Cllr Quinn said the local authority needs to write to the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs’ Minister Edwin Poots MLA, calling on him ensure this is the last time something like this happens.
“Everyone has heard the incident last Sunday [June 19], where we had a slurry leakage into the River Torrent, the slurry spread for nine kilometres from Newmills to Clonoe,” said Cllr Quinn.
“It has resulted in the death of 3,500 fish.
“This is the third leakage that has gone into the river and has basically wiped out all life on the river itself.
“This is the first major incident in 15 years and the river was only recovering now. We had cod, trout and even eels that experts did not know swam in the River Torrent killed.”
He continued, “It has just wiped out everything, not just the fish but all the wildlife including otters and everything along the thriving riverside.
“It is all gone now, it has all been wiped out as a result of this one incident and I would like Council, if possible to write a letter to DAERA Minister, Edwin Poots MLA, to ask what steps we are going to take to restock the river if that is possible.
“I would also like us to ask what steps he is going to take to prevent spillages like this over the next couple of years.
“This is not the first incident in Mid Ulster, we had a very similar incident in Coagh not too long ago which resulted in a massive number of fish dying and it is time we start taking this seriously.”
Sinn Fein councillor John McNamee seconded the proposal and said, “We saw it a couple of months in the Cookstown area with the Ballinderry and Killymoon rivers wiped out,” said Cllr McNamee.
“Something serious needs to be done about this. The penalty does not seem to deter, it seems to happen on a regular basis and the Minister and his Department needs to do something to prevent it as our rivers will be wiped out sooner than we think.
“I agree we need to write to the Minister on this issue and am more to happy to second the proposal.”
By Adam Morton
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