Debate contribution: Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
Debate contribution by Mrs Naomi Long on .
- MLA
- Mrs Naomi Long
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 6 October 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5776620
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I would love to say that I am surprised that we are in the Chamber debating this silly motion today, but, given its genesis, I have to say that I am not. At a time when our institutions are under pressure and relations between communities are at a new low, I am almost incredulous that this is what is at the top of the DUP's priority list: castigating a Minister for doing his job. Despite the performances that we have witnessed, let us be honest about the motivation behind the motion. It is not about empathy for farming, in which Andrew has invested millions of pounds during the mandate. It is not about a new-found commitment to animal welfare from the proposer because, just weeks ago, DUP Members lined up in the Chamber to defend dogs ripping foxes limb from limb in the name of sport.
It is not about concern for Lough Neagh because the DUP has done all that it can to stop the nutrients action plan (NAP) and block the creation of an independent environmental protection agency.
Two key practical measures that would curb the pollution of Lough Neagh and our other waterways. It is not even really about the serious issues around Fivemiletown, because the review that Andrew commissioned to examine that has not even concluded, yet the DUP wants to turn the Chamber into some kind of kangaroo court, irrespective of the potential findings.
No similar motions were brought when other court orders were implemented and other culls were undertaken, whether that was under Michelle O'Neill or Michelle McIlveen. What the motion is really about is that the party to my right cannot stand having an AERA Minister who takes his climate change and environmental responsibilities seriously and cares about all of his brief.
This is a political stunt to distract people from the internal difficulties of the party to my right: a DUP that is mired in scandal and sleaze and that is led by the nose by Jamie Bryson.
I am embarrassed and angry that the Assembly's time is being wasted on this motion when there are so many genuine issues that we ought to be trying to address —
— in the final few months of an already shortened mandate. I have made it clear that I will not be giving way. There are half a million people on waiting lists in Northern Ireland today. Some 25,000 food parcels are given to local children to stop them going hungry, while 60,000 people are experiencing some form of homelessness. Our roads are crumbling and our school buildings are falling apart. Those are real challenges that we have the power to address if some people could drag themselves out of the playground and into the present. Instead, we are here wasting time on debating a sham motion that will achieve absolutely nothing. The Assembly has got itself into a doom loop of late. If we do not pull back from the brink soon, I am really concerned that it will be too late. The people whom we serve want to see delivery, not distraction, and progress, not posturing. They want us to be better, not bitter. The reason that so many people are disillusioned with politics these days is because of days such as today, when they turn on the news and see the Chamber once again totally detached from the realities and being
used as a platform for personal attacks. Let me finish by explaining to the Chamber what will change after the conclusion of the debate: nothing.
In February 2024, I made the decision to appoint Andrew Muir to ministerial office. My confidence in his ability to do that job has only grown in the time since.
My colleagues and I are proud of what he has achieved and of his diligence and professionalism in the face of abuse and heckling, including from the Member to my rear, all the time. Regardless of what the climate sceptics, flat-earthers and science deniers on the Benches to my right may say, of what any lobbyist outside the Chamber may say, of what those who heckle from behind may say and of what those who are happy to squabble while the environment burns may say, the end result will remain the same: Andrew Muir is the Minister of Agriculture, and he is going nowhere. You can spend the rest of the hour and a half talking amongst yourselves about how terrible he is. Knock yourselves out. If you want pantomime politics, fine, but we will not be participating in a pantomime.
Members on these Benches have real jobs to do, constituents to serve and progress to deliver. That is what we will be spending our time doing over the next hour.
796 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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