Debate contribution: Lough Neagh Report and Action Plan

Debate contribution by Mr Andrew Muir on 2 July 2024.

MLA

Mr Andrew Muir

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

2 July 2024

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Ministerial Statements

Heading

Lough Neagh Report and Action Plan

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4528917

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to make a statement to the Assembly on the Lough Neagh report and action plan. I am very conscious of the level of interest from Members and the wider public in improving water quality across Northern Ireland and, particularly, in our efforts to address the very specific and concerning challenges that we see on and around Lough Neagh. Addressing and improving water quality in Lough Neagh was, therefore, rightly identified as a key priority for the Executive at our first meeting. We are all, I think, clear in our recognition that the issues and challenges that are associated with Lough Neagh will not be resolved overnight, nor will they be resolved by my Department alone. They need a strategic, evidence-based and cross-government approach. That is a long-term project. There are no quick fixes, but it is vital that we make a start. For that reason, a few weeks ago, I brought a Lough Neagh report and action plan to the Executive. While it remains under consideration by the Executive, I will continue to work with my Executive colleagues to obtain their approval as soon as possible. I have a responsibility to ensure that the actions that my Department can take, and those that are not reliant upon Executive approval, are taken, and taken at pace. The time for action is now. Before we embark on our summer recess, I want to update Members on the work that is under way in my Department and the work that we will take forward in the coming months. I want to express my thanks — my complete gratitude — to all the officials who have worked over many months on the report to bring it to the Chamber today. I am grateful to them for the work that they have done morning, noon and night on that, and for the work that they will do in the time ahead to implement the actions that we will talk about today. Lough Neagh is of huge importance to people here. It is our most important natural resource and supplies 40% of our drinking water, and its significance to those who depend on the lough for business and recreational purposes cannot be overstated. The appearance in 2023, and recurrence this year, of algal blooms is well documented. We have seen how the impact of the blooms can be devastating and wide-ranging, especially as they spread to other waterways, including our world-renowned beaches and coastline. The state of the lough has attracted not only local but national and international attention, and it is not the sort of attention that Northern Ireland wants or needs. We know that the policies and programmes that we have advanced in the past have contributed to creating the impacts that we are now witnessing. We also know that excess nutrients in the environment cause pollution in our waterways, and that the main contributing sources are agriculture and, to a lesser but still significant extent, waste water from treatment works and septic tanks. A scientific report from October 2020, 'Phosphorus Stock and Flows in the Northern Ireland Food System', which is on the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) website, attributes high nutrient — phosphorus — levels in Northern Ireland's waterbodies to three main sources: 62% from agriculture, 24% from waste water treatment works and 12% from septic tanks. Provisional Lough Neagh-specific source apportionment data produced by AFBI follow a similar pattern. Given that we can identify the problem, we know that that is where the majority of the solutions lie. Before I turn to the specifics of Lough Neagh, I want to make it clear that, given the size of Lough Neagh's catchment, actions to address the issues at the lough need to be Northern Ireland-wide, strategic and cross-cutting. That is why my first priority was to bring to the Executive Northern Ireland's first environmental improvement plan (EIP), which includes a clear focus on water quality. I brought that to the Executive in March. The EIP is a wide-ranging plan for significantly improving the natural environment and is a statutory requirement under the Environment Act 2021. It was consulted on as a draft environment strategy and, once Executive approval has been obtained, it will be published as Northern Ireland's first environment strategy and laid in the Assembly. The statutory deadline to adopt the EIP passed in July 2023. The Lough Neagh report complements and supports the actions and targets in the EIP. I turn now to the work that we have in hand. While it would be inappropriate to publish a report and action plan that are currently under Executive consideration, I can assure Members that it was developed through joint working by my Department and other Departments, particularly the Department for Infrastructure and the Department of Justice. I can also provide assurance that it contains evidence-based actions underpinned by science that will aim to tackle the immediate issue of the blue-green algae blooms in the lough and secure longer-term improvements in water quality across Northern Ireland. Ensuring that the actions are evidence-based was absolutely crucial. I can confirm that the action plan has been informed by the work of the science advisory group, the core membership of which comprises scientists and professional experts from universities and science organisations across the UK and Ireland. The report sets out the various factors that came together to such devastating effect in 2023. Pollution, namely excess phosphorus and nitrogen entering our waterways; climate change resulting in record high water temperature; and the presence of zebra mussels — an invasive species known to disrupt ecosystems by impacting water clarity — all contributed to last year's crisis at Lough Neagh. The report proposes that actions are grouped within four key pillars. The first is education: empowering knowledge and skills, and encouraging best practice. The second is incentivisation: investment and innovation aimed at motivating and funding actions that will drive the adoption of behavioural change. The third is regulation: our statutory obligation to protect the quality of our water. The last is, importantly, enforcement: taking strong and meaningful action when compliance with regulation fails. That sequencing reflects the principle of early intervention: take action first, to try to make sure that problems do not occur or get worse, and do that through education, incentivising the right behaviours and effective regulation. However, have no doubt: where enforcement is needed because people are not complying with the conditions of funding, or are breaking the law, my Department and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) will not hesitate to take enforcement action. Going into more detail, the plan, as drafted, contains 37 actions, some of which require Executive approval because they are new or because they cut across the responsibilities of more than one Department. My focus, today, is on briefing Members on the 20 actions that are not in that category, and which DAERA is now delivering. We are advancing, at pace, a review of the nutrients action programme (NAP). My officials will continue to engage with stakeholders on proposals for the revised action programme as part of the review process. Revised NAP regulations could be available for introduction in early 2025. My officials are ensuring that education and training programmes include water quality monitoring outreach programmes to deliver upon the detailed nutrient status of their soils provided by the innovative soil nutrient health scheme. My Department also plans to provide training in compliance and environmental performance to slurry-spreading contractors. We will deliver a Lough Neagh catchment-wide awareness campaign on education and enforcement practices through a departmental mailshot to raise awareness. We will scope the expansion of the sustainable catchment programme into the Lough Neagh catchment areas. That already operates successfully in the Upper Bann catchment area, for example, which I visited on-site a few weeks ago. I was greatly encouraged to meet farmers, the Rivers Trust, AFBI and Ulster University staff. I was immediately convinced of the benefits and, hence, want to see a wider roll-out, funding permitting. The third cycle of the river basin management plan and programme of measures will be reviewed as an overall water quality improvement strategy for DAERA. I will bring a revised river basin management plan to the Executive as soon as possible. Officials have been commissioned to undertake an independent scientific review of the environmental impact of sand extraction on the Lough Neagh environment. That is part of a wider programme of work to better understand the pressures on Lough Neagh and how they interact, and to inform a conservation management plan with measures to restore ecological balance and resilience. I intend to continue my engagement with colleagues in Ireland and to go to see their agricultural sustainability, support and advisory programme (ASSAP) in practice. That initiative targets areas with poor water quality in order to turn that around. There are real benefits to learning lessons from what is happening across the border and seeing how we can incorporate such one-to-one engagement with the agricultural community in areas of Northern Ireland. My Department is also leading on a small business research initiative (SBRI) to explore potential feasible, innovative and affordable solutions to treat or reduce blue-green algae blooms. It should be recognised that there is scope for physical, chemical or biological solutions or a combination of those. Any solution, however, must not contribute to further environmental degradation and must comply with legislation and environmental designations. My intention is to launch the SBRI in the coming weeks. To date, 44 individuals and companies have come forward with different solutions to the blue-green algae in Lough Neagh. A further small business research initiative project will be taken forward to improve the sustainable utilisation of livestock slurry and develop demonstrator sites to process livestock manure and slurry. The plan is to announce that project soon. It is one of a range of measures to reduce phosphorus inputs from agricultural sources. Put simply, we have a problem with slurry and manure. There is too much of it, and it is part of the cause of the nutrient overload in Lough Neagh. My vision is to, instead, view slurry and manure as a resource that is processed sustainably, generating, for example, electricity plus by-products for export. We can do that because there are many examples of such practices already in action. We will also establish and deliver a livestock dietary emissions challenge through the DEFRA-led dairy demonstrator project, to formulate and test on-farm livestock diets that reduce ammonia emissions, phosphorus losses and greenhouse gases in dairy herds. It is anticipated that contracts will be awarded very soon. My Department has already put in place an inter-agency monitoring protocol for blue-green algae in collaboration with AFBI, the Public Health Agency (PHA) and the Food Standards Authority (FSA). The protocol, which is available on the Department's website, sets out the roles and responsibilities of organisations and individuals, provides guidance on how water users should consider blue-green algae risk and details how my Department is monitoring bloom events this year. This is the first year of operation, and the approach will be reviewed at the end of the season. I now turn to farm support. Whilst agriculture has contributed to the nutrient loading in Lough Neagh over the past century and more, we must recognise that our farmers will provide a significant part of the solution in delivering the mitigating actions. It is both unfair and wrong to castigate farmers as part of some sort of entirely unproductive and divisive blame game. Ultimately, government has to take responsibility and acknowledge that what was advocated for decades has clearly had consequences. We accept the problem and are determined to fix it together. My Department's new farm support and development programme is designed to move us from where we are and where we have been to a much more sustainable farming sector. It will prioritise and drive approaches that benefit our environment, address ammonia- and phosphorus-related issues, reduce the risk of pollution and help deliver the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that the law now requires, and it will do so while supporting our economically significant agri-food sector. It will also include a farming with nature package to support farmers in efforts to protect and enhance water quality and reduce the risk of pollution arising from farmed land. In keeping with my focus on education, we will bring forward new knowledge transfer schemes to replace the business development groups and farm family key skills, which have recently come to an end, and a new innovative package of training and support for agri-professionals that will help them better assist their farming clients in those and other areas. That is in addition to the training that the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) will provide for farmers to enable them to address water quality and build their understanding of nutrient management to significantly reduce losses of nitrogen and phosphorus into our waterways. Whilst previous direction on agricultural policy may have been known as favouring intensification, direction is now clearly about sustainable — I emphasise "sustainable" — productivity, embedding the fact that environmental and economic sustainability are intertwined. Environmental sustainability, with improved and, importantly, sustainable productivity, building resilience and ensuring effective, functioning supply chains are at the core of the new farm support and development programme that was built through a process of co-design with stakeholders, with new schemes and measures being introduced at pace.

I will speak a little more about that issue, as I feel that it is important to dispel any myths or misunderstandings that may exist. The new way forward is key to giving farmers and our wider agri-food sector confidence that a strong, sustainable and successful future can be achieved. Change is essential to implementing that vision in the context of the biggest issue that is facing us all, namely climate change. How we deliver that change, which, I note, is already occurring at many farms across Northern Ireland, is of fundamental importance. A journey is already being travelled by many. My Department and I, as Minister, are passionately determined to do that in partnership with farmers, processors, environmental NGOs and others. Strong relationships are key to doing that, and I will not be found wanting in prioritising dialogue and engagement, nor will I seek to dodge difficult issues and look to kick cans down the road. It is important to be straight and clear with farmers about the science and the evidence as it presents itself and about what is needed to fix the challenges that we face together. To do otherwise would be disingenuous. I owe it to each and every farmer in Northern Ireland, the banks that lend to them and our supply chains to achieve a future in which the farming press oozes positivity every week and there is strong competition to get into farming as the career of choice for more and more people. I am also working with the Minister of Finance on the future agriculture budget from Westminster and with the Minister for the Economy on wider issues such as skills. Restricting the use of chemical fertilisers containing phosphorous on grassland falls within the category of actions that require Executive approval. I am more than happy to take questions on that issue, because the realities of what is being proposed are way off that which has been misunderstood. Where chemical fertilisers containing phosphorous are not needed, we will seek to save the environment and the farmer, financially, by using science and evidence, including the soil nutrient health scheme, to achieve a reduction in usage, which I feel that there is scope to do. A fertiliser database is also proposed in order to record fertiliser movements, just like that which has been successfully introduced across the border. In all the areas that I am talking about today, science and research will have an important role to play, as will learning from good practice by looking North, South, east, west and beyond. Tackling the problems at Lough Neagh will require significant investment. My Department, like all other Departments, is working to a very tight budget that is underpinned by significant resource pressures. Nevertheless, I am reprioritising to ensure that we make a start on turning the crisis around. I have already made £6 million available for Lough Neagh from my Department's budget. That is £2·8 million for resource and £3·2 million for capital investment. That includes £2 million of resource for the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, which will fund, among other things, the recruitment of additional staff, with a firm focus on enforcement and on other work on Lough Neagh. I also welcome the additional £1·5 million provided from the June monitoring round to support actions in the environmental improvement plan that relate to Lough Neagh. I am also conscious of the ownership issue and its importance to many people. My preference is for community ownership. I am aware that the Lough Neagh Partnership (LNP) is undertaking research and an initiative on the future management and ownership of the lough. I intend to engage actively with that initiative, and I have sought a further meeting with the Earl of Shaftesbury, following his recent comments on the matter. I will now turn to environmental governance. As I have said before, I believe in having an independent environmental protection agency. It was a commitment in the New Decade, New Approach agreement, and I am working with officials on the next steps, which I intend to announce over the summer, further to the environmental governance scoping review that I commissioned on taking up office. A plan that talks a lot about education, investment and incentivisation but says nothing serious about regulation and enforcement will not cut the mustard. We need a balanced evidence- and science-based approach that is capable of turning the situation around, through our working together. Enforcement is important, but, as we all know, the need to resort to enforcement action is ultimately a sign of failure. It is much better to ensure that pollution and environmental harm does not occur in the first place, but having a robust, fair, proportionate and targeted enforcement regime is essential, as it will act as a deterrent and champion the "polluter pays principle".

That is why I have put more resources into the Northern Ireland Environment Agency. We are working to set up an enforcement task force for the Lough Neagh catchment area that is focused on addressing areas of highest risk, including the issue of cumulative breaches regardless of source, whether that be agriculture, waste water treatment works, domestic septic tanks, industry or otherwise. An independent review, including consultation, of the environmental crime sentencing framework for fines and penalties in conjunction with the Department of Justice is also key and something that I will continue to seek Executive agreement on. There are many other items in the report and action plan, such as the environmental crime sentencing framework review, that I have not referenced today, as they await Executive approval alongside important Department for Infrastructure-related matters relating to waste water infrastructure. Whether it be establishing the Lough Neagh science platform, scoping what makes the most effective septic tanks and considering a grant scheme to encourage replacement of old ones, or different tree-planting interventions, there is lots that can be done to improve water quality in Lough Neagh. Partnership working across government, stakeholders and beyond is critical, be that on implementing a conservation management plan for Lough Neagh, reinvigorating the catchment stakeholder group, a grant scheme to support organisations working to improve water quality and conservation of Lough Neagh, or commissioning the Innovation Lab to generate solutions and a long-term vision to improve water quality using a Forever Mournes partnership model. Those are the items on which I await Executive approval. As I have said many times, sadly, there is no quick fix for Lough Neagh. The issues surrounding the lough and the wider water environment are complex and challenging. Addressing those issues will require changes in our behaviours and practices, and I am determined to build and sustain a culture of environmental responsibility by fostering an attitude of zero tolerance to pollution. Successful delivery and oversight of the actions to address the problems at Lough Neagh and to more generally improve water quality across Northern Ireland will depend on engagement, consensus-building and the creation of strong partnerships across government, the public and private sectors, including local government, and the community. The elements of the Lough Neagh action plan that I am sharing with Members today are instrumental to delivering my vision for a healthy, resilient environment, with high water-quality status and environmental standards that support biodiversity and nature recovery in a living and productive landscape that is also crucial to enhancing the health and well-being of our citizens. I look forward to updating the Assembly when the report and action plan in its entirety receives Executive approval. I will do all that I can as Minister, but I urgently need Executive approval for key actions to deliver a cross-cutting, combined approach and interventions that are already agreed between my Department and the Infrastructure and Justice Ministers but await Executive sign-off. We have run out of time: each day that passes without the plan's being agreed by the Executive is another day lost in fixing the problems that are being beamed onto TV screens across the world. Although it is important that we learn lessons from the past, my Lough Neagh report and action plan focuses on the future. It will enable targeted, proportionate and sustainable actions through partnership working. I am determined that it will make a difference for the better.

I thank the Member for his question. I circulated the Lough Neagh report and action plan, I received comments, I updated the report to reflect those comments, and I have heard nothing since then. I continue to engage with Executive colleagues on the report and action plan. I hope that we can agree it, because it is important that, as an Executive, we work together and deliver those actions collaboratively. A key thing that stakeholders say to me is that they want a joined-up approach. That is what I want to achieve, and that we is what we need to be able to do as part of the report and action plan. We also need to deal with cross-cutting issues, so, on waste water infrastructure, I am working closely with John O'Dowd, and I will take every opportunity, including today, to call for more funding for John O'Dowd for Northern Ireland Water and waste water infrastructure. I also need to work with the Justice Minister on the review of the sentencing framework for fines and penalties. I believe that we can get the report agreed. It was important that I came here today to set out what we are doing on the issue, because people are despairing. They want hope that there is a plan to turn the situation around. Hopefully, I have given people a good idea of the actions that my Department has taken and my commitment to the issue. I have put my shoulder to the wheel. I am passionately committed to the issue, and I will not rest until we get the report and action plan fully agreed by the Executive so that we can make progress in turning the situation around. We owe that to the people of Northern Ireland.

I thank the Member for his question. I hope to make awards for that initiative very soon. There are key benefits associated with it, because, as I outlined in the statement, we have a problem with slurry. We have too much of it, so I want to move it towards being viewed as a resource. It is the second stage of that SBRI. I regularly speak to farmers about the issue, and there is a real desire to scale up the project, so we will move at pace on that. Hopefully, we in Northern Ireland can be leaders in delivering solutions to problems. I am keen to scale up that project, and, hopefully, in the days ahead, we will be able to make more announcements about it.

4,033 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:56 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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