‘Rogue traders’and bonfire risk

He claims such operators have delivered a lorry load of tyres to a site on the Edenmore Road in Limavady where they are being built partly on the footpath.

“It is clear from the tens of thousands of tyres appearing on Orange bonfires across the North there are ‘rogue traders’ off-loading tyres which should have gone for recycling,” said Mr Dallat.

“This makes it imperative that a traceability scheme is introduced at the earliest opportunity and severe penalties imposed on anyone involved in any way in the disposal of tyres by incineration on bonfires.

“Both Limavady Borough Council and the PSNI have been informed of this latest incident in Limavady, and I appeal to anyone who has noted the registration number of the lorry to give it to the police or pass it to my office in the town.”

The SDLP MLA went on to state: “Any self-respecting Orangeman must be in total despair at the goings-on in Limavady in the last week when loyalist paramilitary flags have appeared in numbers and, apart from this most recent lorry load of tyres, many more are stock-piled in back gardens ready for burning on the Eleventh Night.

“No one can quantify the massive health risk these will cause to local residents many of whom are at their wits end that such practices should precede what the Orange Order has branded ‘one of their flagship events.’”