Archived press release

DOE moves to silence its critics after fourth damning report on its failure to handle NI's waste crisis

23 March 2006

Friends of the Earth is claiming that today's damning report on Government's failure to manage Northern Ireland's waste crisis is likely to be the last because DOE has dissolved the independent scrutiny committee charged with overseeing its performance on waste. The green pressure group's comments follow an investigation by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, the findings of which have just been published.

Today's report by the powerful spending watchdog is the fourth blistering critique of DOE's performance in the waste arena. The Waste Management Advisory Board, the House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee and the Northern Ireland Audit Office have all heaped criticism on the Department for its record on rubbish. But DOE has scrapped the Waste Management Advisory Board which, besides publishing its own report, helped to trigger the other three investigations.

Commenting, Declan Allison, Waste Campaigner at Friends of the Earth said:

"In scrapping the independent body of experts appointed to oversee the Department's record on waste and replacing it with a group of insiders - council officers and civil servants, DOE is attempting to silence its critics."

Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland
7 Donegall Street Place
BELFAST
BT1 2FN
Tel: 028 9023 3488
Fax: 028 9024 7556
Email: foe-ni@foe.co.uk.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust