Member's statement: Save Lough Neagh: March for Clean Water
Member's statement by Mr Gerry Carroll on .
- MLA
- Mr Gerry Carroll
- Party at the time
- People Before Profit Alliance
- Date
- 22 September 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Save Lough Neagh: March for Clean Water
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5739141
Read the official Assembly record
Text
This Saturday, as part of the Save Lough Neagh campaign, the March for Clean Water will be at Stormont. We will see fishermen, fisherwomen, farmers, swimmers, trade unionists and people from every community who have a stake in the future of the lough and the future of our planet. I wish them well, and I hope that people can join them at the protest. Those campaigners understand what the Executive do not: clean water should not be green or even orange. Clean water is a fundamental right. We need to stop the delay and the distractions, take on the polluters and save Lough Neagh. The water in this bottle is from Lough Neagh. It came out of the largest freshwater lake on these islands, and it was given to me by campaigners. It is green, it stinks and it is absolutely toxic. Lough Neagh is the source of at least 40% of our drinking water. People are expected to drink this water, to bathe their children in it and to swim in it. However, I ask the MLAs here: would any serious, right-thinking person drink it?
OK. I will put it there. The water is choking the life out of the lough. It is real life; it is not a gimmick or just a prop. It is the reality of life for people in and around the lough. Swans have been trapped in the algae; young eels are suffocating; and biodiversity has been wiped out, summer after summer, since 2023. It is not some accident; it is a political problem. The problem was created by the Going for Growth strategy endorsed by the Executive parties and the official Opposition, which handed the agri-food giants a fortune and a licence to pollute. It was created by factory farm after factory farm that was waved through on the lough shore. It was created by years of underinvestment in sewage infrastructure and by a total failure to crack down on polluters. What has the party to my right — the DUP — been busy with lately? Not the lough, not dealing with pollution but trying to stoke up division around Drumcree and many other issues. I ask the DUP and the other Executive parties this: why are you not fixing the crisis you created in our waterways, instead of stirring up division and hatred? I encourage people to join the protest outside this Building on Saturday.
403 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.13 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.83).
- The text criticises or condemns the framing or division (0.50).
- Subject area: Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.08 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.09 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.40 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.12 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.83 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.13 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing | 0.47 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.01 |
| Criticises or condemns it (chosen) | 0.50 |
| Adopts it | 0.02 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.71 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.15 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.08 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.02 |
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 16:23 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.