Tyrone abbatoir unable to pay pollution fines after folding
A Co Tyrone abattoir which polluted a river is unable to pay fines which amount to £15,000 (€21,600) after going out of business.
Accountants confirmed that Ballygawley Pork Ltd had gone into liquidation after waste from overflowing storage tanks leaked into the Ballygawley Water, a prime fishing river, two years ago.
The fines, plus legal costs, which were imposed last week on the company at Dungannon Magistrates Court, referred to two serious pollution incidents in February and August 2003.
However, the company, which had a history of causing pollution and had been fined several times before for similar offences, went into liquidation in December and will probably not be able to pay the outstanding fine, accountants said.
Nicholas McKeague, of McKeague Morgan and Co, an accountant who advised the firm during its liquidation, said: “They will not be in a position to pay the debts. The fines will take priority over other debts but if the fine ranks as a non-secured claim for the liquidation, there will be no fines to be paid.”
The fines and legal costs owed could eventually be dissolved if the company or its representatives were unable to pay.
A tributary of the Ballygawley Water near the abattoir in Crew Road, Ballygawley, was found to be badly polluted in February 2003. A joint investigation by the Fisheries Conservancy board and the Department of Environment found that the river water was badly discoloured and smelled very strongly of pig slurry.
The pollution was quickly traced to the nearby premises of Ballygawley Pork, where it was discovered that slurry and abattoir waste was overflowing from several storage tanks into a nearby stream.
Six months later, the company was found to still be allowing effluent to escape into the river from storage tanks on their premises. The river was again found to be badly contaminated by highly polluting waste.
A fine of £5,000 (€7,200), plus costs of £233.74 (€337), was imposed for the first pollution offence, and a fine of £10,000 (€14,400), plus costs of £232.90 (€336), for the second.
The company had received a previous fine of £5,000 (€7,200) in September 2003, when it told Dungannon magistrates that they were in the process of spending £80,000 (€115,400) to improve their site.
No representative from Ballygawley Pork was in court when the most recent fines were imposed and the firm was not legally represented.
