Debate contribution: Lough Erne: Pollution

Debate contribution by Mrs Deborah Erskine on 17 September 2024.

MLA

Mrs Deborah Erskine

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

17 September 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Adjournment

Heading

Lough Erne: Pollution

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4537470

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I thank the Justice Minister for coming to talk about this important issue, which is affecting my constituency. Pollution incidents in our waterways have been brought into sharp focus in recent years due to the sighting of blue-green algae in the likes of Lough Neagh. During recent summers, that has extended beyond Lough Neagh, with incidents being reported in Lough Erne as well. I do not need to remind anybody in the Chamber that Fermanagh is one of the most beautiful parts of Northern Ireland and the UK. It has stunning natural beauty, and tourism is a key economic driver in our area. I am sure that the Justice Minister, who is in the Chamber, will, if she has visited the area, attest to the fact that it is a hidden gem in Northern Ireland. Fermanagh has a proud, rich heritage of fishing, with hotels and B&Bs filled with tourists from the rest of the UK and Germany, in the past and beyond, who have come to fish in our loughs. The old Fermanagh District Council's slogan on the signage was, "Fermanagh welcomes you, ... naturally!". However, that has been slightly tarnished with increased pollution incidents, and I am keen that our area does not become another Lough Neagh, which might happen without intervention soon. For example, take the Kesh river. There were 10 pollution incidents on that river from 2021 to 2023. There was a very disturbing major fish kill in September 2021, which killed thousands of brown trout. Over the summer, our local newspapers have carried extensive coverage of pollution incidents. I welcome the fact that the AERA Minister saw that and agreed to come to Fermanagh with me just last week to see and hear about the scale of the issues. Whilst our rural area has many farms lining the banks of Lough Erne, I send a very strong message today that farmers are not always to blame for those incidents. Yes, there are those who could do much better, but we cannot tar an entire sector with the same brush. We must be careful not to pit one section against another. The Northern Ireland Audit Office published a report on the deteriorating water quality in Lough Neagh, which is largely due to failed and outdated waste water infrastructure that is trying to cope with increasing demands. Storm overflows, which we know are supposed to act as emergency relief valves during heavy rainfall, are now frequently discharging into Lough Erne. In actual fact, we are not aware of the rates in full because event duration monitors are not fully funded for the entirety of our shores and banks. In the Chamber, I often repeat the fact that Northern Ireland has more overflows per head of population per kilometre of pipe than any other region in the UK. I can take Members to housing developments and businesses where, unfortunately, overflows into our waterways are a common occurrence. We must all do better to tackle the issue. We cannot allow any sector to hide behind another while knowingly acting wrongly by polluting our waterways. The concern is that environmental damage could be long-lasting. Algal blooms can lead to what are known as dead zones in the water, which would be devastating to our recreational fishing fraternity. During my time as a councillor, I spoke to Erne Anglers, which shared a presentation with Fermanagh and Omagh District Council in 2019 about pollution incidents and the amount of rubbish that was dumped into Lough Erne. The situation has deteriorated much more in the space of five years. Inaction is simply not an option. In July, in the Chamber, I asked the Minister whether his Department would help. Given that this is a cross-departmental issue, it is important that we all work together to see how we can fund and manage the scale of the problem. The answer was slightly disappointing. We need to tackle the issue head-on together. Surely the cross-departmental nature of the issue is also what the Lough Neagh report is all about. I am not sure whether the Justice Minister will be able to answer this today, but I want to find out about the progress being made on the statement of regulatory principles and intent (SORPI) arrangements and the plans to tackle the pollution incidents in Lough Erne in the frame of the Lough Neagh report, implementing it not just for Lough Neagh but across waterways in Northern Ireland. In the summer, a worrying headline in my local newspaper read:

"'No specific measures' to tackle algae as toxic chemicals discovered on Lough Erne".

The newspaper report said that DAERA had admitted:

"There have been no specific measures employed ... to control blue-green algae".

I know that staff monitor the levels in the water, but I want to ensure that we do not come back to the Chamber with a post-mortem on our beautiful Lough Erne. I want to ensure that we send a strong message today that we want to tackle the problem together and definitely do not pit sections of our community against one another. It is a vital message to send from the Chamber. I welcome and thank Members for coming to the debate. I am sure that they will outline and discuss some of the other issues relating to it.

891 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:12 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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