Other News In Brief

DUP Called To Release List Of Donors

Alliance Leader Naomi Long has said the DUP should release its list of donors immediately if it is to be taken seriously.

The party is in talks with the Conservatives about supporting Prime Minister Theresa May's party in Government. However, Mrs Long said it could not continue its contradictory approach to political donors any longer.

Anyone donating £7,500 or over in a single payment to a local party since January 2014 can be revealed publicly when the Secretary of State lifts the exemption and brings Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the UK.

She said: "The situation in Northern Ireland, where parties can receive huge donations yet not disclose them to the public, ought to have ended many years ago. However, now the DUP are wielding influence over the UK Government, continued secrecy around their finances is completely untenable.

"The DUP first committed to ending secrecy donor secrecy in May 2014 and restated it in their manifesto in May 2016, yet they still refuse to act to do so on a voluntary basis. They are now also caught up in a controversy around 'dark money' they received which was linked to the Brexit campaign."

Waste Firm Fined For Number Of Fuel Laundering Offences

A Co Armagh waste firm, its manager and landowner have been fined for a number fuel laundering offences.

Transco Waste Ltd, Vivian Devlin and Paul Devlin were fined a total of £8,000 at Newry Crown Court after they pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.

Officers from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), HMRC and the PSNI visited a site on Concession Road, Cullaville, Crossmaglen on 30 October 2013 where they uncovered significant quantities of fuel laundering waste, deliberately hidden under genuine waste within a shed on the company's premises. The shed was 25 metres away from a primary school playing field.

Documentation was subsequently received by the NIEA to show that the company had paid over £4,000 to have the approximately 14 tonnes of waste sent to an authorised site.

An NIEA spokesperson said: "This represents a significant positive outcome insofar as the law has been upheld and convictions secured. However, importantly, the offending waste has also been removed at the expense of the defendants. This means that the environment has been protected without significant cost to the taxpayer."

DUP Is Betraying Interests Of People In NI - O'Neill

Sinn Féin Leader in Northern Ireland Michelle O'Neill has said the DUP is betraying the interests of the people of the north in its agreement to prop up the pro-Brexit and pro-austerity Tory government of Theresa May.

She said: "It is no surprise that the DUP has agreed to prop up the pro-Brexit and pro-austerity Tory government of Theresa May.

"They have once again betrayed the interests of the people of the north by supporting a Tory party which has cut funding to our public services year on year to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds.

"Experience shows us that unionists have minimal influence on any British government.

"They have achieved little propping up Tory governments in the past and put their own interests before those of the people.

"This new arrangement between the DUP and the Tories will be transitory and will end in tears.

"But it will be the people of the north who will have to pay the price for the DUP's support for Brexit and for cuts.

"Given the Tory government's increasingly partisan approach it is more important than ever that the Taoiseach and the Irish government stand up for the rights of all citizens in the north.

"The Irish government needs to seize the initiative to secure designated special status for the North within the EU as part of the Brexit negotiations."

(CD/LM)