The impact of large bonfires on the environment has long been a contentious issue in Northern Ireland.
Eleventh Night bonfires were lit across Northern Ireland this year with no monitoring of air or soil pollution carried out by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, it has been confirmed.
The agency, which is responsible for protecting the environment here, did not conduct any testing during July this year.
That is according to the Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Minister Andrew Muir, who had been asked about the “pollutants detected” near bonfire sites in July this year by an SDLP MLA.
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Using Stormont’s written Assembly Question mechanism, the SDLP’s Cara Hunter had asked the Minister to “detail any monitoring of air and soil pollution carried out by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in the vicinity of bonfire sites during July 2025; and pollutants detected.”
Mr Muir replied: “No routine monitoring of air or soil pollution is carried out by the Agency in or near any bonfire site given bonfires are an illegal waste activity and I can confirm that no such routine testing was conducted by the Agency during July 2025.”
The impact of large bonfires on the environment has long been a contentious issue in Northern Ireland.
Residents living near a July bonfire off the London Road in Belfast, speaking to Belfast Live this year, raised concerns the scale of the pyre could prove damaging to their health.
And a criminal investigation was launched in August into the presence of asbestos at a bonfire site in south Belfas.
The bonfire, at a site at Meridi Street off the Donegall Road, had been the focus of health warnings, political rows and legal challenges throughout the week before it was lit on the night of July 11th.
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