Minister: No lobbying received over Giant's Causeway proposal

The North's Minister for the Environment has denied that DUP colleagues are trying to influence her decision on a proposed visitor centre at the Giant's Causeway in Co Antrim.

Seymour Sweeney, a DUP member, wants to build a private facility at the World Heritage Site instead of the public one currently being proposed.

Minister for the Environment Arlene Foster has already said she is "minded" to approve the proposal.

Her comments have sparked a major controversy and it has since been revealed that both DUP leader Ian Paisley and his son Ian Paisley Jnr lobbied on behalf of Mr Sweeney in a case relating to a drift-net fishing licence.

However, Ms Foster told a Stormont committee today that she had received no communication from anybody either supporting or opposing the application.