Other News In Brief

Farmer Fined For Pollution Offence

A farmer has been given a conditional discharge for two years at Ballymena Magistrates' Court.

Bill Livingstone was found guilty for making a polluting discharge to a waterway.

He was also ordered to pay £19 court costs.

On 6 March 2014, a Water Quality Inspector (WQI), acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), inspected a waterway at Moorfields Road, Ballymena and observed that the waterway was brown in colour and detected an agricultural odour.

The WQI observed that slurry was flowing off a field which then entered the waterway. The polluting discharge was traced to farm premises owned by Mr Livingstone. The length of waterway impacted by the discharge was in excess of 450 metres.

A sample taken at the time of the incident confirmed that the discharge contained poisonous, noxious or polluting matter which was potentially harmful to fish life in the receiving waterway.

Kincora Files Discovery Fuels Case For Inquiry Inclusion – Lyttle

East Belfast MLA Chris Lyttle has said new Government files containing further allegations around Kincora Boys' Home only further fuel the case for its inclusion in the Home Office's child abuse inquiry.

Mr Lyttle was speaking after the files, which remained undiscovered because they had not been properly catalogued, were handed over to the Northern Ireland Historical Abuse Inquiry (HAI).

Although their details have not been made public, they are believed to contain claims about the notorious East Belfast home made by ex-Army whistle-blower Colin Wallace, including naming former Government figures alleged to have been involved in high-ranking paedophile rings.

He said: "The claims of a cover-up by security forces around Kincora will only be added to by these files and the fact we now know Government officials were discussing the home throughout the 1980s and 90s.

"Systematic abuse took place at this house. The nature of that abuse and alleged cover-up are unable to be investigated in the way they should be by the HAI."

SDLP Meets With Residents Over Future Of Casement Park

SDLP representatives have met with residents over the future of Casement Park.

Following a meeting with Mooreland and Owenvarragh Residents Association, Alex Attwood MLA said: "It should always have been the case that the concerns of Casement residents should be not only heard but also heeded. That remains the case and it must be the case before and during any future Casement Planning Application.

"The success of the judicial review taken by residents, the grave issues around health and safety now public and much besides confirms why residents need to be front and centre now and if any new Casement application is lodged."

(CD/JP)