Stay away from bonfire over asbestos fears - Muir

The environment minister has urged people not to attend a controversial bonfire in south Belfast on Friday night due to the presence of asbestos on the site, and to "exercise caution" if they do.

Andrew Muir also defended the Northern Ireland Environment Agency's (NIEA) handling of removing the material, accusing political opponents of "finger pointing".

Concerns had been raised about asbestos at the site as well as separate fears over the power supply to two major hospitals because the bonfire is near an electricity substation.

Earlier, the grand secretary of the Orange Order said the bonfire should go ahead, saying concerns about the presence of asbestos on the site were "clearly political".

Eleventh Night bonfires will be lit across Northern Ireland on Friday night to usher in 12 July commemorations.

The Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) has removed about 20kg of asbestos from the site, between the Donegall Road and the Westlink and has confirmed that further fragments of asbestos have been found at the site.

Speaking for the first time about the matter, Muir, an Alliance Party MLA, said: "There are many ways to celebrate but not at this site.

"Personally I respect how important the 11th and 12th is, I understand its importance but I'd plead with people to exercise caution and not to light this bonfire if they could."

Muir told BBC News NI he was first made aware of the issues at this bonfire site a "number of weeks ago".

"The removal of asbestos is very complex and delicate, it requires the site to be completely vacated. The site has not been vacated and that's one of the important issues."

Asked why his department did not step in sooner, given the NIEA first became aware of the developments in May, he defended the agency's approach and said there had been "detailed engagement" with both the landowner and other agencies to try to mitigate the risks and that a review would be carried out in the coming days.

He also said he was limited in what he could say due to ongoing legal action and did not want to prejudice that.

He said critics in other parties who accused his department of failing to act more quickly were merely "good at finger pointing" and denied there had been a lack of leadership from him.

Earlier, the grand secretary of the Orange Order, Rev Mervyn Gibson, said if asbestos had been a major issue, environmental agencies should have said so months ago, as bonfire builders had been on site since January.

Mr Gibson told BBC's Good Morning Ulster Programme that people should "go and enjoy themselves" at the bonfire.

"I think it's clear for everybody that the decision that was made was a political decision. This asbestos has been there from 2017," he said.

"I believe the council voted a couple of weeks ago for the bonfire to go ahead. A few days before it then Sinn Féin and Alliance and the SDLP decide to vote against it."

On Thursday, police confirmed they would not assist in the removal of the bonfire.

They had been asked by the council to assist contractors to dismantle the bonfire before it was lit.

The PSNI said that, after a multi-agency meeting, it was felt "the risk of the bonfire proceeding as planned was lower and more manageable than the intervention of contractors and the proposed methodology of dismantling it".

Belfast City Council acknowledged the PSNI's position but said it remained concerned about the presence of asbestos on the site and would continue to raise these concerns with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA).

The council voted to write to the environment minister to act immediately to have the asbestos removed.

The NIEA said it was first alerted to the issues around the bonfire on 16 May, but "circumstances did not allow for the safe and controlled removal of the asbestos", prior to the Eleventh, so the agency worked with the landowner and council to agree mitigating measures to reduce the risk to public health.

Mitigations included the further covering of the asbestos-containing material, the use of fire-retardant material and the erection of additional fencing.

The NIEA said it was their understanding that the landowner will arrange the removal of all of the asbestos from the site next week.

Bonfires are lit as part of Eleventh night celebrations in some unionist areas of Northern Ireland, to usher in the Twelfth of July, the main date in the parading season.

The Twelfth commemorates the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 when the Protestant King William III - also known as King Billy and William of Orange - defeated Catholic King James II.

DUP councillor Sarah Bunting has questioned the NIEA finding more suspected asbestos.

"The sites we were shown where the asbestos has been found, most of them were just around the stockpile of asbestos that has been covered… why was that not found before?"

Bunting has asked if the NIEA can go in and "facilitate an assessment of that part of the site" on Friday morning ahead of the planned lighting of the bonfire.

On Thursday, bonfire builders voluntarily removed tiers of pallets from the top of the bonfire and told BBC News NI the action was an "olive branch" to those concerned.

The landowners, Boron Developments, bought the site in the summer of 2017 and were made aware of asbestos at that time.

Boron Developments have said it engaged a waste management company to remove the asbestos but the company needed "no personnel" on the site in order to complete the removal of asbestos.

Due to people "bringing in materials and building the bonfire" the company told the landowners it could not complete its work.

The council said while the lands at the site remained "the responsibility of the landowner" the council and the NIEA were "working together in relation to this site".