Durkan wants public inquiry into waste management in NI

Plastic bottles, bin bags, food and wood were found at the Campsie site along with construction site material

The environment minister is seeking executive agreement for a full and comprehensive public inquiry into waste management issues in Northern Ireland.

Mark Durkan said it would build on the valuable findings of the Mills Report into illegal dumping at Campsie.

He said a public inquiry would be more wide-ranging in its remit.

It would cover all public bodies involved in waste, the nature and structure of the sector and its links to Britain and the Republic of Ireland.

The Mills report, published in December, found criminality was widespread in the waste industry in Northern Ireland with at least some involvement by organised crime.

The Department of Environment (DOE) commissioned an independent report in June 2013 after 516,000 tonnes of waste was found at Campsie near Londonderry.

The report, by former Welsh Environment Agency director Chris Mills, recommended that the entire waste system should be looked at to see how criminals exploit it, and said regulation should be more rigorous and robust.

It estimated that cleaning up illegal dumps that had already been discovered could cost £250m.

Robust

Speaking in the assembly, Mr Durkan said the Mills report offered fundamental lessons on waste efficiency.

He said he wanted a much more robust, legitimate and prosperous waste sector.

The benefits, he said, would be protection of human health, environmental protection from illegal dumping, and the reduction of the support of waste available for criminals through closer cooperation between councils.

Mr Mills found an overall lack of strategy and direction, lack of integration between DOE teams, an over-complicated regulation and deficient legislation.

The minister announced a number of key actions for addressing the problems.

"Tough and effective waste crime enforcement is critical, this is why we have employed 10 new enforcement experts in NIEA's (Northern Ireland Environment Agency) environmental crime unit," Mr Durkan said.