The Workers Party is supporting local campaigners and the ‘No Arc 21’ group as they consider their legal options, including judicial review, in the light of yesterday’s surprise decision by the Department of Infrastructure to give the go-ahead to a waste incinerator plant at Mallusk.
Party spokesperson Gemma Weir said, ‘despite over 4,000 objections to this project it is proceeding without either a Ministerial or an Executive decision’.
‘There was absolutely no need to take this unaccountable decision ‘, Gemma said ‘Northern Ireland has many urgent and pressing problems which need immediate action but this is not one of them’.
‘This irrational and potentially dangerous course of action has been taken in the absence of a functioning Assembly at Stormont. While the condemnation of both the DUP and Sinn Fein on this issue is to be welcomed, it is also hypocritical of both parties to point the finger at civil servants when they have repeatedly failed to form the very Executive that should be taking control of this situation’, said Gemma.
‘I have written to the Department of Infrastructure asking that it immediately suspends its approval for this project. I am also calling on both Sinn Fein and the DUP to live up to their responsibilities,form an Executive and allow us all to get on with taking our own decisions on our health, our environment and our waste management’ Gemma concluded
Workers Party Northern Ireland 