Latest news with #CountyTyrone
BBC News
2 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Strabane: Man charged over weekend attack
A 33-year-old man has been charged with causing another man grievous bodily harm with intent after a weekend assault in Strabane, County Tyrone.A man in his 30s is in a critical condition in hospital following the assault in a flat on Main Street on Saturday afternoon. He sustained serious injuries to his face, head and body and was taken by air ambulance to suspect is due to appear at Enniskillen Magistrates' Court on Monday.
BBC News
2 days ago
- General
- BBC News
More than 100 historic sites damaged across NI
More than 100 specially protected archaeological sites and historic monuments have been damaged or vandalised in Northern Ireland over the last five of the breaches occurred on or near farmland including an ancient field system in County Antrim and a centuries-old ceremonial site in County are 2,000 historic monuments in Northern Ireland that are protected by law, with some dating back almost 10,000 latest figures on damage and vandalism have led to fresh calls for more awareness to be raised around the importance of such historical sites and Department for Communities has responsibility for protecting historic monuments here. Paul Logue is a senior official with the department's historic environment said: "Archaeological sites represent a unique source of information about the lives of our ancestors and how they adapted to and changed their environment."Unauthorised works at scheduled sites remove or degrade that archaeological source of information and can be likened to removing an important book from a library and burning it before anyone has had a chance to read it." What are historic monuments? There are currently around 35,500 archaeological monuments recorded in the Historic Environment Record of Northern Ireland (HERoNI).But only around 2,000 of them are scheduled, which means they have statutory include many prehistoric sites, forts, churches, castles, maritime sites, and also more recent industrial and defence sites and monuments are discovered every year, often during building excavations, the farming of land and changes in weather conditions revealing ancient News NI previously reported on how in 2022 a spell of hot weather dried up a swamp in the Loup area that had been concealing a man-made island, known as a crannog. Special permission must be sought before any works are carried out on scheduled monuments to protect them from to get the proper permissions or unlawfully disturbing them can lead to a court summons and a January 2024 a building contractor was fined £50,000 for demolishing a protected historic monument on a site he intended to develop in County obtained by BBC News NI show that there have been over 100 breach cases at scheduled monuments in the last five years. A breakdown of the figures include damage to an ancient field system in County Antrim and a unique set of historic limekilns near incidents include graffiti at a 5,000-year-old tomb site open to the public in County Down.A path was also unlawfully inserted into an ancient ceremonial site near a burial cairn in the historic Davagh forest in County Forest is located at the foot of the Sperrin Mountains where a number of significant archaeological finds have been include the Beaghmore Stone Circles which were discovered in the late 1930s when a local worker, George Barnett, was cutting peat. Damage was also recorded at a number of historic canals in Newry and near the River Lagan in metal detecting was also a problem and in one instance a number of large holes were dug up at a medieval abbey site in Co Down. 'Farmers are responsible people' Some of the most serious damage cases occurred during the Covid period and around 30% of breaches occurred in urban areas, but most breaches were on Logue said: "The high percentage of farmland cases is most likely because Northern Ireland has a large amount of farmland in our landscape and the overwhelming number of protected monuments are on farmland."But overwhelmingly, we believe that Northern Ireland landowners and farmers are responsible people who in many cases have carefully looked after monuments on their land for generations. However, like any other section of society, a minority do not act responsibly."Seán Clarke is a Sinn Fein councillor and farmer from Broughderg who has reported the discovery of several historic artefacts from the land during his working life. Along with the local history group, he was instrumental in discovering a prehistoric site surrounding the ruins of an old school from the said: "We noticed that there was this deep bank in a double ring shape that surrounded the old playground, and we began to realise this was something much older."We reported it to the authorities and they said they believed it was a prehistoric ceremonial site, so we helped get it reported and registered."He added: "Down the years even on my own land I've discovered different things like old standing stones and stone circles."It's so important to protect these artefacts because they're part of our story, part of our past and once they're gone, they're gone forever, they can't be replicated." Paul Logue added: "The reality is we need the message out there that if you do damage heritage, you may end up with a criminal record."And that's not what we want, so we would just ask people to be cautious and remember these places and monuments are telling important stories about humanity."
BBC News
5 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Mid Ulster: Residents protest over compost factory smell concerns
A crowd of more then 200 people gathered outside Mid Ulster Council offices to voice concerns about new planning proposals linked to a controversial compost factory in County who live close to the factory near Killeeshil have previously claimed their lives are being impacted by a bad smell which they say is coming from the year, the company Northway Mushrooms went into administration and the operators of the site are now Sawgrass Substrates Ltd (SSL).In a statement, the company said it acknowledged the concerns raised by some local residents regarding odour, but that it maintained "full compliance with all environmental requirements". A spokesperson for SSL added: "We take all community feedback seriously and are committed to operating responsibly and in line with our Waste Management Licence strictly regulated by the NI Environment Agency (NIEA)."Work at the factory involves the mixing of hay, chicken litter, and water to create a compost for mushroom March last year, local residents protested outside Northway Mushrooms to voice their concerns about a smell that they say they've been living with for later, the local school and GAA club said the smell was still impacting children's everyday Friday, members of the Cabragh Concerned Residents Association (CCRA) were once again protesting, this time outside Mid Ulster Council offices in Dungannon. Joseph McDonald is a member of Cabragh Concerned Residents Association (CCRA). Speaking at the protest, he said: "What you see here today is the spirit of our community, we're annoyed and distressed by what we see as an injustice."He said this issue has been ongoing for five years and they have been living with the smell which is like "rotten broccoli, it hits your chest and lungs"."Mentally it's not good for the community, you go out and put clothes on the line and the clothes are stinking, just even simple things like that. The hallway in my house is stinking," he said."Clean air is meant to be a basic human right, we're not getting that and we're putting out a message to our council tonight that something seriously needs to be done about the odour in this area." Protestors held placards and posters chanting "stop the stink".Many of the protesters said they believed the smell had gotten worse in recent surrounding odour issues at the factory in Killeeshil have been discussed several times at Mid Ulster protest on Friday is also connected to a new planning application linked to the application for a proposed "additional bio and roughing filter, yard extension (for bale storage), boundary fence and ancillary site works" has been recommended for is due to be presented to Mid Ulster's planning committee on Tuesday.A spokesperson for Mid Ulster Council said the purpose of the planning application was to "facilitate additional storage areas to ensure production is not interrupted" and that the proposed additional equipment would "mitigate emissions from the previously approved operations". The application has had more than 180 letters of objections, many of which are from local residents who live close to the at the protest on Friday a number of the protestors said they still had "serious concerns" that there would be still be ongoing odour a statement, SSL said it had "invested significantly in advanced odour reduction technologies".A spokesperson added: "To demonstrate our proactive commitment to the local community, an additional odour control facility is proposed with a capex of £1.2 million investment."This is not required as part of any regulatory requirements, but rather, our wider commitment to enhance the mitigation on site. Notably, no extension of the facility or further processing is proposed as part of the scheme. "The Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) investigates environmental safety News NI contacted NIEA about the latest protest but did not receive a response.
BBC News
27-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Bird flu restrictions to be lifted in NI this weekend
Restrictions to protect against bird flu in Northern Ireland will end at midday on Saturday, 31 means poultry gatherings are once again allowed to take place after the lifting of compulsory housing measures on 10 arrangements in the Republic of Ireland will be lifted at the same Avian Influenza Prevention Zone was put in place in January following the confirmation of the virus in wild birds. In February, there were three outbreaks of bird flu in commercial poultry premises in County Tyrone around the time of a housing was the first time the disease had been detected in a commercial setting since December Environment and Rural Affairs Minister Andrew Muir said the measures had "undoubtedly limited the spread" of the disease."Thanks to the determined efforts from the poultry sector in Northern Ireland to protect their flocks and minimise the impact of disease, we are now in a position to lift the AIPZ and reduce all mandatory restrictions placed on bird keepers," he said."I'm sure this will be welcome news for the sector which contributes greatly to our economy and wider society."Chief Veterinary Officer Brian Dooher warned against complacency, saying "lower risk does not mean no risk".He added that "the need for stringent, mandatory biosecurity measures are still of paramount importance to help prevent the spread of the disease from wild birds or another source to poultry."I would urge all bird keepers to continue to implement the biosecurity measures of the AIPZ as they have been doing."
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Former sub-postmistress 'still fighting' for full compensation
A former County Tyrone sub-postmistress has said she is "still fighting" to get back all of the money she is owed as a result of the Post Office IT scandal. More than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted because of incorrect information from the Horizon computer system showed missing payments from their branch accounts. It comes after Sir Alan Bates, who led a redress campaign for victims, wrote in the Sunday Times that his compensation offer was less than half of his claim. The Department for Business and Trade said: "Anyone unhappy with their offer can have their case reviewed by a panel of experts." Fiona Elliott bought a Post Office and shop in the rural village of Clady in County Tyrone with her husband in 2005. She said that she was putting thousands of pounds of her own money to cover shortfalls logged in the system. "Now I'm still fighting to get it back," she told BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme. Mrs Elliott said she first applied for compensation as a result of the scandal five years ago, but added that she has only been offered 5% of what she believes she is entitled to. She previously told the Post Office Inquiry in 2022 that her losses, including wages and the repossession of buy-to-let properties, was about £1m. "It feels like we have to beg to get it back," she said. "I lost the shop, the Post Office and then I lost buy-to-let properties as well." She added that complex cases, like hers often, face delays when it comes to compensation being paid out. Mrs Elliott said she has appealed her compensation total three times, and has now been advised to apply for the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS). This scheme is for sub-postmasters who were not convicted or part of the Group Litigation Order court action, but who believe they experienced shortfalls because of Horizon. This group will be offered a fixed payment of £75,000 or can have an application assessed by the scheme. Mrs Elliott said she feels she has wasted "five years on a scheme that wasn't going to pay me out anyway". "It's just like starting over again. "You're constantly begging with them and constantly appealing and it's just going on too long." Mrs Elliott said she is not sure of how much faith she has in the scheme, and that many sub-postmasters are still waiting to be paid. "I don't think there's very many who have got their full and fair redress and I'm only sitting at a 5% offer at the minute and to get it to 100% it could be a long road," she said. She added that she believes many will take a lower offer than what they're entitled to because they don't want to fight anymore. "I'm going to keep going until the end," she added. In a statement a spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade said: "We pay tribute to all the postmasters who've suffered from this scandal, including Sir Alan for his tireless campaign for justice. "We have quadrupled the total amount paid to postmasters since entering government." The statement added that it recognises there will be an "absence of evidence given the length of time which has passed" and therefore will give the benefit of the doubt to postmasters. "Anyone unhappy with their offer can have their case reviewed by a panel of experts, which is independent of the government," it added. Why were hundreds of Post Office workers wrongly prosecuted?
