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Community campaign groups Rotten to the Point and RARE have called on Newry, Mourne and Down District Council members to decline to nominate for two vacant seats on the Board of Warrenpoint Harbour Authority, and to place their reasons formally on the public record before the Department for Infrastructure's closing date of 12 noon on Friday 28 August.
The Department wrote to the Council on 1 June 2026 seeking nominations for the two posts, which carry remuneration of £8,772.48 a year.
One of the vacancies arises from the resignation of Councillor Jim Brennan in July 2025. In his resignation letter to the Council's Chief Executive, dated 3 July 2025, Cllr Brennan wrote that his opposition to the storage and handling of Refuse Derived Fuel at the port was recorded in the minutes of multiple Board meetings, but that he had concluded there was neither the will nor the leadership within the Board or senior management to take meaningful action. He described this as a serious failure of the Authority's responsibility to the community in which it co-exists, and said he would not consider re-engagement until all RDF storage and handling at Warrenpoint ceased permanently.
Four days later, on 7 July 2025, the Council suspended standing orders on a recorded vote of 30 to nil to condemn the operation's odour, fly and vermin impact on residents. Thirteen months then elapsed before the Department wrote to the Council seeking replacements. The campaign groups say the vacancies should not be filled quietly, but neither should they be allowed to lapse in silence.
A spokesperson for the groups said: "Two councillors on a board of nine will not fix a port that has lost a councillor member, a second councillor, and members of its own community forum, and that has just been ordered by the Information Commissioner to hand over the minutes it tried to keep from the public. But if nobody says anything and the deadline simply passes, the Department gets to record that it consulted the Council and nobody was interested and that becomes the argument for removing community representation from Warrenpoint permanently. We are asking councillors to refuse in writing, with reasons, and to bring it to full Council in September."
The groups have also called on the Minister for Infrastructure to pause the Harbours Bill, currently at Committee Stage, and to use existing powers of direction in respect of the port. The Committee for Infrastructure's Call for Evidence on the Harbours Bill closes on 2 September 2026.
