THE SDLP has queried why the North's Environment Minister Sammy Wilson has banned people from the Republic serving on his advisory bodies, "considering that the Republic is providing hundreds of millions of pounds" to help finance environmental projects in Northern Ireland.
Mr Wilson's spokeswoman confirmed yesterday that people from the Republic would no longer be invited to serve on bodies advising the DUP Minister. This followed a decision by Mr Wilson not to reappoint Patrick Warner to the North's Council for Nature Conservation and the Countryside when his terms ends in February.
Mr Warner, a divisional manager with the Republic's National Parks and Wildlife Service, was appointed to the body by the North's Department of the Environment under British direct rule.
"We now have a new regime. We have devolution. The Minister feels people from Northern Ireland should be serving on boards relating to Northern Ireland," said a spokeswoman for Mr Wilson. "There is no question of the Minister reneging on any North-South agreements," she added.
SDLP Assembly chief whip Patsy McGlone said the decision was astonishing on several fronts, including that the [Dublin] Government had provided "hundreds of millions of pounds for road projects North of the Border".
"You would think even the most narrow-minded, dyed-in-the-wool DUP member would be able to recognise that we only have one environment on this island and we need to work together to protect it. Take any environmental problem you like, from clean air to road safety, and it is fairly obvious it doesn't stop at the Border. This is crazy stuff that makes no sense whatsoever," he said.
"Sammy Wilson seems to be retreating on several environmental fronts in order to keep in with the backwoodsmen in the DUP," added Mr McGlone.
Sinn Féin's environment spokesman Daithi McKay said Mr Wilson's decision was short-sighted and petty-minded. "Whether Sammy appreciates it or not, environmental issues do not recognise artificial borders," he said.
The Green Party environmental spokesman in the North Dr Peter Doran accused Mr Wilson of following a divisive and partisan agenda and of playing politics with the environment.