Archived press release

Fat cat Civil Servant rewarded for failure

22 June 2003

Friends of the Earth described as astonishing the news that Robert Martin, the recently retired Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Water Service, was rewarded in the Queen's Birthday Honours list this week. Mr Martin received a CBE for public service despite Water Service's appalling record on sewage pollution. Just 35 per cent of Northern Ireland's sewage works comply with European sewage pollution law compared with 95 per cent in England and Wales [1].

John Woods, Director of Friends of the Earth (Northern Ireland) insisted that instead of rewarding Water Service officials, they must be called to account:

"It is astonishing that Robert Martin has been rewarded in this way. Under his leadership Water Service has failed the people of Northern Ireland through its complacency. Raw and poorly treated sewage is routinely pumped into Northern Ireland's loughs, rivers and coastal waters. If Mr Martin headed up a private company he would have had his day in court but instead he is rewarded with a day at the Palace".

Friends of the Earth made an official complaint [2] to the European Commission highlighting the discharges of raw sewage into coastal waters at Portrush and Larne in County Antrim and Bangor and Donaghadee in County Down. It also reports the discharge of inadequately treated sewage into numerous inland waterways, in particular Lough Erne and Lough Neagh. Three of Northern Ireland's popular beaches recently lost their coveted Blue Flag status because of poor water quality [3].

Water and sewerage are the responsibility of Water Service, an agency in the Northern Ireland Department for Regional Development. Despite being Northern Ireland's biggest polluter, Water Service cannot be prosecuted because it enjoys Crown Immunity. But the European Commission can impose fines in excess of £100,000 per day over its repeated failure to comply with the law.

Mr Woods continued:

"Water Service is in persistent breach of a law designed to protect public health and the environment, and now their negligence has resulted in the loss of blue flags at three popular coastal resorts. They may be safe from prosecution in the domestic courts but if our complaint is successful, they will face the music in Europe. The prospect of huge fines may be just the sort of wake-up call that's required to accelerate the pace of investment in our failing sewage system."

Notes

[1] (back) The European Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive.

[2] (back) The complaint can be found here.

[3] (back) Three beaches which attained a blue flag last year have this year lost their blue flag. They are Millisle in County Down, Portrush East in County Antrim and Portstewart in County Londonderry. These beaches lost their blue flags because their water quality was compromised by sewage pollution.

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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