Court: NI farmer fined for water pollution offence
A court in Northern Ireland has fined a farmer for a water pollution offence arising from 'farm effluent' being discharged into a river.
Hugh Allen of Drumahiskey Road, Ballymoney, Co. Antrim was convicted today (Friday, June 6) at Coleraine Magistrates' Court for an offence under Article 7(1)(a) of the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999, as amended.
The 55-year-old had pleaded guilty and was fined £1,500 plus £15 offenders levy.
Court
The court heard that Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) water quality inspectors responded to a report of dead fish in the Ballymoney River on June 18, 2024.
The inspectors carried out their investigation in an upstream direction to where grey fungus was visible on the bed of the Ballymoney River.
The inspectors traced the polluting impact further upstream to a location where a concrete pipe was actively discharging farm effluent to the waterway.
As part of the investigation, a statutory sample of the discharge was collected and analysed.
The sample results indicated that the sample contained poisonous, noxious or polluting matter which would have been potentially harmful to aquatic life in a receiving waterway.
On June 19, 2024, inspectors examined the silo area on the suspected farm.
A silage effluent collection channel was noted to have been blocked with grass and as a result silage effluent was discharging from the silage clamp into a piped drain before entering the Ballymoney River.
The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) advised anyone wishing to report a pollution incident to call the 24-hour NIEA Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Agriland
17 hours ago
- Agriland
Court: NI farmer fined for water pollution offence
A court in Northern Ireland has fined a farmer for a water pollution offence arising from 'farm effluent' being discharged into a river. Hugh Allen of Drumahiskey Road, Ballymoney, Co. Antrim was convicted today (Friday, June 6) at Coleraine Magistrates' Court for an offence under Article 7(1)(a) of the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999, as amended. The 55-year-old had pleaded guilty and was fined £1,500 plus £15 offenders levy. Court The court heard that Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) water quality inspectors responded to a report of dead fish in the Ballymoney River on June 18, 2024. The inspectors carried out their investigation in an upstream direction to where grey fungus was visible on the bed of the Ballymoney River. The inspectors traced the polluting impact further upstream to a location where a concrete pipe was actively discharging farm effluent to the waterway. As part of the investigation, a statutory sample of the discharge was collected and analysed. The sample results indicated that the sample contained poisonous, noxious or polluting matter which would have been potentially harmful to aquatic life in a receiving waterway. On June 19, 2024, inspectors examined the silo area on the suspected farm. A silage effluent collection channel was noted to have been blocked with grass and as a result silage effluent was discharging from the silage clamp into a piped drain before entering the Ballymoney River. The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) advised anyone wishing to report a pollution incident to call the 24-hour NIEA Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60.
Irish Times
19 hours ago
- Irish Times
Prominent businessman loses bid for reporting restrictions on £1bn loan fraud trial
A prominent Belfast businessman accused of fraud in relation to a £1 billion (€1.2 billion) loan deal has been unsuccessful in his bid to have reporting restrictions imposed on the trial. Frank Cushnahan has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He had sought to have reporting restrictions put in place during the trial. His co-accused, Ian Coulter, has also pleaded not guilty to all charges. Mr Coulter did not seek to have reporting restrictions applied. The charges against the men relate to the sale of a loan book held by the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), which was set up by the Irish government to deal with toxic property loans after the banking crisis in 2008. READ MORE Mr Cushnahan had sought an order from the court pursuant to section 4 (2) of the Contempt of Court Act 1981, which states that reporting on certain proceedings may be postponed if there is 'a substantial risk of prejudice to the administration of justice in those proceedings'. In dismissing the application, Mr Justice Ian Huddleston of the Crown Court of Northern Ireland said there was 'no substantial risk to the applicant on the facts'. He said there is 'substantial public interest' in the trial. 'The public interest in fair and accurate reporting of criminal trials generally, and the promotion of public confidence in the administration of justice and the rule of law, is something which very much tends to the dismissal of the application,' the judge said. Nama's Northern Ireland loan book was sold to a US investment fund in 2014. Mr Cushnahan, a former member of Nama's Northern Ireland advisory committee, is charged with fraud for allegedly failing to disclose information to Nama between April 1st and November 7th, 2013. Mr Coulter, a solicitor, is alleged to have made a false representation to a law firm on or around September 11th, 2014. He is also charged with making an article in connection with a fraud, namely a £9 million invoice, and two counts of concealing or transferring criminal property on various dates in 2014. Both men are accused of making a false representation to Nama and a law firm in April 2014. They deny all charges. In his written judgment, which was delivered on Wednesday, Mr Justice Huddleston said: 'The application to this court was essentially by way of written submissions made by Mr Cushnahan's counsel as expanded upon orally but acknowledged by him to be unsupported by any evidential basis or other supporting information.' Mr Cushnahan was represented by Frank O'Donoghue KC and Bobbie-Leigh Herdman BL, instructed by Paul Dougan from John J Rice Solicitors. Four media organisations intervened in the case – The Irish Times, RTÉ, BBC and Mediahuis. They were represented by Richard Coghlin KC, instructed by Fergal McGoldrick of Carson McDowell LLP. Jonathan Kinnear KC and Lauren Cheshire BL, instructed by the Public Prosecution Service, supported the media interveners' submissions.
Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
Man who beat vulnerable partner to death in Co Antrim home jailed for 19 years
A man who beat his vulnerable partner 'again and again and again until he killed her' in her Co Antrim home has been jailed for a minimum of 19 years for her murder. As he sentenced John David Scott (36) for murdering his 32-year old partner Natasha Melendez, Mr Justice Weir said he had inflicted multiple injuries upon the mother-of-four in prior assaults before the fatal attack on March 22nd, 2020. This occurred in her Finch Gardens home in Lisburn, which the judge said was a place where she should have felt safe. Ms Melendez, who was orginally from Venezuela, died in hospital on April 1st, 2020. READ MORE As he sentenced Scott, Mr Justice O'Hara said: 'I accept that the murder was not pre-meditated but it was an easily foreseeable end result of how the defendant treated Ms Melendez.'
