Kildare pipeline firm fined over NI river pollution
A Kildare based firm was today fined £15,000 (€20,137) for polluting a river in the North while laying down the cross-border gas pipeline.
SICIM Roadbridge Ltd which is based in Naas, Co. Kildare received the penalty at Newry Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to a pollution incident which occurred in the Forkhill River in Co Armagh in June 2006.
The fine prompted Alliance leader David Ford to call on Minister for the Environment in the North Arlene Foster to ensure companies who contaminate rivers receive appropriate fines.
The June 2006 pollution incident was traced to three industrial pumps discharging large volumes of heavily silted effluent directly into a tributary of the Forkhill River.
The effluent was being pumped from a section of the North-South gas pipeline badly polluting the river with silt levels which would have been harmful to fish.
Mr Ford, a member of the Assembly’s Environment Committee said: “Whilst £15,000 may sound like a significant fine for most individuals, one has to question how it relates to the costs that would have been incurred in ensuring pollution does not happen.”
According to a Criminal Justice Inspectorate report published last October the number of water pollution incidents reported to the Environmental Heritage Service’s water management unit in the North fell from 2,534 in 2001 to 2,183 in 2005.
