Causeway process 'not finished'

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Environment Minister Arlene Foster has stressed she has not made a final decision on a visitors' centre at the Giants Causeway.

She said she hopes key stakeholders will talk to the planning service before a final decision is made.

Ms Foster was answering questions from the Stormont Environment Committee.

Ms Foster stirred controversy earlier this month when she said she was "minded" to approve a private sector proposal by developer Seymour Sweeney.

It was later confirmed that Mr Sweeney was a member of the DUP.

But Mrs Foster told the committee on Thursday that she had held no meetings with anyone either for or against the proposal.

Instead, she said she had come to the "minded" decision purely on the merits of the planning application, after visiting the site herself in July.

However, she stressed the process was not finished.

Both Moyle Council and the National Trust have declared their opposition to a private sector proposal.

Layered basalt

On Wednesday it emerged that the DUP's Ian Paisley Junior went lobster fishing with Mr Sweeney.

Mr Paisley Jr also confirmed that he and his father had lobbied in 2005 for a drift net licence on behalf of a fisherman whose crew included Mr Sweeney and two of his relatives.

He has rejected calls from some political critics for a statement clarifying his relationship with Mr Sweeney, insisting he has nothing to answer.

The Causeway attracts nearly 500,000 visitors a year. The previous visitors' centre on the site burned down in April 2000.

Renowned for its polygonal columns of layered basalt - resulting from a volcanic eruption 60 million years ago - it is the only World Heritage Site in Northern Ireland.