Other News In Brief

Gracehill Moravian Church Designated UNESCO World Heritage Site

A historic Moravian Church settlement in Northern Ireland has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Gracehill, located in County Antrim, is one of four settlements worldwide to receive this prestigious designation.

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons attended a celebration event in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to mark the occasion. The event brought together representatives from the United States, Germany, and Denmark to commemorate the inscription by UNESCO of the four settlements.

Minister Lyons praised the efforts of the individuals and organizations involved in securing this landmark status for Gracehill. He highlighted the significance of the event and the shared history connecting the settlement to other Moravian Church sites around the globe.

The Minister said: "For Gracehill to be part of the UNESCO award is momentous in itself. But today I consider it a privilege to represent the Northern Ireland Executive at what is the culmination of so many events.

"As is often the case with history, it's only when we pause and look back that we realise how far we have come. Today are reflecting on centuries of that history, and a shared past which links Gracehill in Northern Ireland to Herrnhut in Germany, Christiansfeld in Denmark and Bethlehem in the USA. We're also acknowledging the perseverance of the Moravian Church and the communities who have carried this tradition through the years.

"We recognise the considerable efforts of those individuals and organisations who worked in more recent times to secure UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Status. This includes governments at all levels, but it has been spearheaded by the people whose passion and persistence are the reason we are here today.

"When you look at this collectively, you realise what a truly significant event this is. I applaud all those involved both in Northern Ireland and across the globe."

Dungiven Businessman Given 15 Month Sentence For Waste Offences

A Dungiven businessman has been given a 15 month sentence, suspended for three years, for five waste offences.

Trevor Mulhern (50) of Altmoyer Road, Dungiven, is a former director of TJC Sand and Gravel Ltd. At Londonderry Crown Court in April this year, he pleaded guilty to five charges relating to waste offences under the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997, which occurred between 22 November 2017 and 1 November 2018. These offences included unlawful deposit and treating of waste and waste pollution offences. On 22 November 2017 NIEA officers, on routine duties discovered a large deposit of waste on the site of a sand and gravel quarry located at Longland Road, Londonderry and operated by TJC Sand and Gravel Ltd. On 21 June 2017 the NIEA undertook an intrusive survey on the quarry site, when they identified approximately 1,377 tonnes of controlled waste in the form of trommel fines, which had been deposited on and buried in a number of areas throughout the quarry.

On 13 June 2017, NIEA officers attended a second sand and gravel quarry being operated by the same company, located at Tornoge Road, Donemana, where they identified further waste deposits. NIEA officers later returned to the site and undertook two further intrusive surveys which identified that 68 tonnes of waste trommel fines had been buried within the site.

Following NIEA's investigation, Mr Trevor Mulhern, a director of the limited company operating both quarry sites, was reported to the Public Prosecution Service for waste offending.

Report On RHI Response 'Damning Indictment' Of Stormont – SDLP

A report finding that a little over half of the RHI report's recommendations have been implemented has been described as a "damning indictment of the failure of Stormont to reform itself", Leader of the Opposition Matthew O'Toole has said.

Mr O'Toole was speaking as the NI Audit Office (NIAO) published a stark report on the implementation of the recommendations of the Inquiry chaired by Sir Patrick Coughlin, which was published in 2020 after a years-long study costing millions of pounds. When the Executive was restored in 2020, all Executive parties committed to implement the recommendations on how to improve performance within devolved Government.

As well as finding that a significant proportion of the RHI inquiry findings are not likely to be met, the NIAO reported that the Executive sub-committee on implementing the findings had not met since 2020 and that the position in relation to records-keeping had "regressed" since 2022.

South Belfast MLA Matthew O'Toole said: "This report paints a bleak picture of a Stormont that has endured what should have been existential scandal but simply returned to its old ways afterwards. Particularly shocking is the fact that an Executive sub-committee set up to implement the review's findings has not met in four years. The fiasco over record keeping and COVID seems to point to a Stormont regime at both political and official level that is simply unwilling to change.

"The DUP may have been the party most culpable for the RHI fiasco in the first place, but this report casts Sinn Féin in a damning light. They still maintain that they were right to collapse Government over RHI in 2017, a decision which led to three years of political chaos. But since 2020, successive Finance Ministers in charge of pushing through post-RHI reforms have been Sinn Féin ones – and this report illustrates that they simply haven't bothered.

"We are now nearly half a decade into the new decade that was much heralded in 2020, but neither the Executive parties nor the civil service leadership appear to be serious about a new approach. The Opposition intends to hold them to account for their failure to offer anything close to the reform that was promised."