How it took the Northern Irish state took over two-and-a-half years to fine itself £250 for a pollution spill

In this case the offender was Northern Ireland Water – the Province’s sole water supplier, wholly owned by the Department of Infrastructure.

The case was launched by DAERA over a sewage spill into the Upper Bann River in the Huntly area of Banbridge emanating from a nearby treatment works, and concluded at Newry Magistrates’ Court on Monday with a £250 fine for NI Water (plus an additional £15 offender levy, which goes into the Department Of Justice’s Victims of Crime Fund).

The date of the spill?

July 27, 2021.

The News Letter has disentangled the proceedings, and the timeline is as follows:

DAERA inspectors collected evidence and in January 2023 passed their files to the PPS, which approved prosecution the following month.

On June 19, 2023, the case appeared in court for the first time.

On December 18, 2023, NI Water entered a “not guilty” plea.

Then on Monday (April 15, 2024) NI Water changed its plea to guilty and was fined.

In all, DAERA said the case was mentioned in court six times “whilst discussions were carried out between the prosecution and defence legal teams”.

NI Water had instructed an external law firm and a barrister for the abortive case.

DAERA said it could not work out how much the case had cost it and, as to whether it had instructed a barrister, referred the News Letter to the PPS, which in turn said only that its Fraud & Departmental Section had handled the case.

The PPS also could not be sure how much the case had cost it (though this may be discoverable later under Freedom of Information law).

Asked why a £250 fine case took so long, the department told the News Letter that since it was a criminal offence “DAERA’s investigations consequently require a high level of due diligence in the gathering and presentation of evidence”.

It added: “In this case, the incident was first investigated on July 27, 2021 with photographic and other evidence gathered at the time.

"Subsequent to that date, DAERA-NI Environment Agency carried out further enquiries under caution with the suspected polluter.”

The department added that whilst “the costs to investigate and prepare a file for consideration by PPS will in this case will have been greater than the fine”, that is the court’s decision.

Deborah Erskine, the DUP MLA who chairs the infrastructure committee at Stormont, said: "This is a pollution incident which causes destruction to the environment and is an act of self harm in every sense as money is spent to ensure water is clean to drink – which is a priority – and on securing a prosecution.

"For the farming community, they feel vilified for pollution in waterways whilst looking on at NI Water.

"Unfortunately there are some who have knowingly caused such damage and they should rightly face the law, however we can not deny that NI Water have contributed to pollution incidents due to a lack of funding and this is a sad inditement."

Tom Elliott, a UUP MLA and chairman of Stormont’s agriculture committee, said the £250 fine seemed “out of context” in comparison with those imposed on farmers and farming firms.

The length of time to get to court has been “vastly extended”, he said, adding: “It’s quite unusual.

"It’s probably been more trouble than it’s worth.”