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Mr Andrew Muir: Assembly records
All of Mr Andrew Muir’s imported questions, contributions and motions in this mandate, newest first, including those assessed as not flagged, uncertain or not yet analysed.
Thank you very much, Nuala. First, I commend you for your leadership on the issue, which has been of real concern for many people in Northern Ireland. The review report made for very hard reading. We all have a role to play in relation to safeguarding in the equestrian industry, and it is important that we take that…
The Communities Minister and I supported the scheme for the initial year. The Communities Minister has approached me again to see if I will support it in future years. You are making a very good case for that, and I will come back to Gordon very soon.
First, I welcome the Member to the Chamber. The community infrastructure fund is a good initiative and supports urban and rural communities. My Department supported the initial phase, and we are considering the work thereafter. Many organisations have benefited from the fund, and we have to recognise that those…
In recent years, the Department has introduced a number of powers around that. I will write to you to set them out, because the detail is in my papers amongst a number of pages. There are powers for councils to use. I am disappointed that two district councils have decided not to sign the cooperation agreement between…
That matter is being considered as part of the review of environmental offences that is being taken forward by the Department of Justice. I will say two things: first, the councils also have a responsibility for illegal dumping and fly-tipping, not just me; and, secondly, there is a need for people to come forward and…
I am conscious of what I inherited. An announcement on a wildlife intervention was made on the last day of the previous Assembly mandate. The matter proceeded to court, and the Department lost. It is important that we learn lessons from that for the way forward. That is why we undertook the consultation. I could have…
The issue of TB remains a top priority not only for my Department but for me. I understand the real impact that it has on farmers and their mental health when there is a herd breakdown. That is why we have the blueprint and why we are implementing the actions arising from that. It was clear, in setting that out last…
I am conscious of our rural community and proud to be the Minister who is responsible for rural affairs. However, the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland do not consider the hunting of wild animals to be part of the rural way of life. It is cruelty to animals, and it is wrong.
I am conscious that the Bill's Second Stage has been tabled for next Tuesday. I will meet officials to discuss the Bill on Thursday, and I will outline my position in response to that as part of the Second Stage debate.
A multi-year Budget is absolutely critical for the farming community. When we had the Brexit referendum, an awful lot of promises were made. Guess what? They did not come true. Previously, we had seven-year budget settlements through the common agricultural policy. The Tory Government at the time said that it would…
Thank you, Robbie. The issue is of concern to me, because we do not have a settled Budget. Without a Budget being agreed in the next couple of weeks, a crisis will develop rapidly in Northern Ireland politics. It is important that the UK Government step up and fund Northern Ireland in line with its need but also that…
What I will do is answer your actual question, rather than your TikTok question. I will set out what we are trying to do with planning. There are significant resource challenges. I have told you, on numerous occasions, the issues that there are with ammonia. In 2023, legal action was taken against my Department…
There was an awful lot of rhetoric but not one specific question in there. Give me an example of what the issue is, and I will tell you what we are doing about it.
I mentioned in my answers the strategic framework and the action plan, but we have to do this together, Colin. It has to be a collective effort. As the Member rightly says, it is rural arson, but, that being the case, why are people not coming forward with information so that we can get people into court? We need to…
The Member is right: we should not normalise that behaviour. It is rural arson, and that is why I have been consistent in encouraging people who are aware of anyone who is deliberately lighting malicious fires to report that to the police or Crimestoppers. They are not only damaging our environment but putting lives…
In the action plan, we set out a number of actions related to how we can better support our farming community. Farming with Nature is our key intervention in that regard. I note that the Bill that the Member proposed does not have any conditionality associated with the issues that he seeks to address, and the…
I have been really clear that the work to prevent wildfires in the Mournes and elsewhere has to be a collective endeavour. That is why I recently launched the wildfire action plan, which will run to 2030, as part of the strategic framework that we launched last year to tackle the increasing threat of wildfires. The…
It was absolutely devastating to witness the recent spate of wildfires across our landscapes, including the Mournes. Using satellite imagery, we can estimate the extent of the area in the Mournes that was impacted on by the wildfires. Initial estimates are that the fire to the north of Bloody Bridge extended to…
A few weeks before it was due to come into place, the Committee expressed a position that it wanted to annul the regulations. I was conscious of the decision that the Committee took. I was also conscious of the fact that, in seeking to introduce it more widely than Strangford lough, we were seeking to address the…
I am conscious of the pressures that our fishing industry faces. That is why I travelled to the Isle of Man to make representations on the specific issue that the Member outlined. The Secretary of State and I engaged on the pressures, particularly those regarding fuel and the migration policy that the UK Government…
It is my intention to introduce a closed season for periwinkle harvesting for Strangford lough by the end of the mandate. I will seek the support of the Committee and, if necessary, the Chamber for that. It is important that we respect the designations that are placed on Strangford lough and that we protect important…
Earlier this year, my Department made regulations to introduce a closed season for periwinkle harvesting between January and April each year in the Northern Ireland intertidal area. There was significant support for that in a public consultation in 2022. It was disappointing that the regulations had to be subsequently…
My concerns about that have been consistent. Northern Ireland Water has reported that more than 20 million tons of untreated sewage and waste water spill into waterways every year, with storm overflows discharging over 24,500 times annually. I will seek support at the Executive meeting next Thursday to end the…
Thank you, Matthew. I understand people's concern about the situation, because the communities that live around the lough are the most affected and we get 40% of our drinking water from Lough Neagh. Therefore, it is imperative that we address the issue. It means making difficult decisions. There are issues with regard…
In my oral statement on waste water regulation and enforcement that I delivered on 3 March this year, I set out my key interventions to strengthen the regulation and enforcement of waste water activities and to reduce pollution across our water environment. Among those interventions is my proposal for the Northern…