Write a commentSpeaking at a breakfast meeting with business and community leaders in the Canal Court in Newry yesterday Mark H Durkan MLA and Justin McNulty, SDLP Westminster candidate for Newry and Armagh, have called for stronger North South Co-operation on the Environment and tackling crime.
Speaking on the issue of cross border crime Justin McNulty said “One of the greatest challenges facing us is the threat of sophisticated cross border organised crime. Newry and Armagh is no stranger to the threat of crime. Over 40 years of conflict, criminals were allowed to impose their rule on communities here. While the conflict has ended, the watch towers have come down and peace has taken root, the criminal gangs have not been weeded out. And even now, 17 years after the peace agreement, their activities continue to choke our blossoming new society.
“We only have to look to what was discovered in November of last year. The biggest illegal diesel laundering operation ever discovered on these islands was found in south Armagh. But it wasn’t a quick find. By the time action was taken, the operation had been in place for over a year. Revenue and Customs removed 50 tons of toxic waste and concluded that the site was capable of producing 20 million litres of illicit fuel every year. The clean-up operation cost the taxpayer £20,000 with an estimated £12.5 million in lost revenue. That’s £12.5million that could have been invested in schools, hospitals or other vital public services that have been decimated by an austerity budget.
“These gangs are operating at a very high level and their crimes are costing us all and costing us consistently. The diesel fraud tax gap in the North is estimated to be £80 million per year. In the South, it’s in the region of 140-260million.
“That’s why it was vital that the SDLP secured Patten level standards of accountability for the National Crime Agency. The resources of the NCA in terms of forensic accountants and environmental crime specialists will be pivotal in turning the tide in the war against organised crime. It’s time that other parties now offered their full support for our efforts to take down these gangs and recover assets that will ease budgetary burdens.
“But we now need to go further. These gangs are operating across the North and the South, making it more difficult for police to pursue them and their assets.
“We need much stronger enforcement. It’s time now that we establish a permanent cross border organised crime agency to take down these gangs and redirect their assets back into services that will revitalise these communities.
“We need to send a message to those involved in these criminal enterprises that we will pursue them wherever they go until justice is done and assets are recovered.’
Mark H Durkan MLA said “North South co-operation to protect and promote the environment makes perfect sense. The Environment knows no borders. We share rivers, lakes and coastlines and the same problems in protecting them and our natural habitats and heritage form the negative impact of climate change and pollution. While good work is already being done, I would like to see us move up a gear - to pool our resources and expertise through the establishment of an all-island environment protection agency.”
“We also need to do a lot more to tackle the infiltration of organised crime in the waste industry and to deal with the scourge of fuel laundering.
“That’s why the SDLP supports the call by the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly for the establishment of a cross-border multi-disciplinary task force to crack down firmly on these criminals who rob our economies and continue to poison and pollute our environment and our people”
