As the Assembly election enters its last few days, Sinn Féin has attacked Environment Minister Mark H Durkan saying he has failed the people of the Locale coast in his lack of support for the South Down beaches campaign.
South Down Sinn Féin candidate Chris Hazard MLA said: “At the end of February, I wrote to Environment Minister Mark H Durkan to ask that he and his Department commit to working with Newry Mourne and Down District Council to ensure that the application for EU Bathing Water status has every chance of success. He has failed to give this commitment.
“This follows his absence at an Assembly debate to discuss the Environmental Health of South Down beaches. At that debate last October, I called on him to work in partnership with the Beaches Forum established by the Council, to prioritise EU Bathing Water Status in Ballyhornan, Kilclief and Killough. Again he failed to give this commitment.
“EU Bathing Water Status would mean NI Water having to cease pumping raw sewage into local waters. The existing poor sewage infrastructure is often cited as a barrier to economic growth and development.
“This was the only department under SDLP control, in the last Assembly term. Minister Durkan had a chance to really make a difference following decades of neglect. Environmentalists and the people of Lecale deserve better.
“It’ll be left to someone else to sort out the mess, if, as the SDLP have suggested, they go into opposition. We can only hope that whoever succeeds him gives the EU Bathing Water Status campaign the energy and commitment that is required,” said Chris Hazard.
