Work began this week to return thousands of tonnes of illegally deposited waste in County Fermanagh to the Republic of Ireland.

The Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) and authorities in the Republic of Ireland are working on returning approximately 2,000 tonnes of waste from a site near to Killadeas in County Fermanagh to a fully authorised landfill site in the Republic of Ireland.

This is the third site in Northern Ireland in the current financial year that waste will be successfully removed from and repatriated to the Republic of Ireland.

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Environment Minister Mark H Durkan said: "The continuation of work to remove and repatriate waste from these three sites this year further demonstrates our commitment to tackle illegal waste. This work will help protect the environment and I welcome our counterparts in the Republic of Ireland co-operating with us to address the scourge of illegal dumping."

The process to remove the waste to the south is estimated to take up to five weeks to complete.

Approximately 4,000 tonnes of waste has already been removed from a site close to Fivemiletown in Co Tyrone and a further 4,000 tonnes of waste from a site close to Omagh, Co Tyrone.

(CD/JP)