Debate contribution: River Basin Management Plan

Debate contribution by Mr Matthew O'Toole on 15 October 2024.

MLA

Mr Matthew O'Toole

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

15 October 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

River Basin Management Plan

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4592939

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I will endeavour to be brief. I move today's motion as two shocking reports are published by the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP). The first, which has come in the past few days, relates to the motion and calls for the river basin management plan, which is now three years overdue, to be published. The other one was published today, and it is shocking. It talks about the unsustainability of the current pressures that we have placed on nature in Northern Ireland. There can be no doubt that, of all the crises that we face in this society and all the urgent things that we discuss, including paramilitarism and housing, which we have discussed today, the crisis that we have created in our biodiversity and nature in this region cannot be overestimated or overstated. Clean and plentiful fresh water is essential for life. It is a fundamental human right that is critical for food production, recreation, culture, human health and well-being. However, with blue-green algae smothering Lough Neagh for two years in a row, it goes without saying that the health of our rivers, lakes and streams has risen up the public agenda here in Northern Ireland. Our motion recognises that fact, as well as the importance of upholding our legal obligations in relation to fresh water. That is what we are doing today. I hope that the Minister, who I know takes these issues seriously, will see us doing our job today of accountability as a constructive Opposition. The response to the crisis in Lough Neagh serves in many ways as a metaphor for how the Executive, and previous Executives, have worked: problems have been ignored and allowed to build up, and evidence and warning signs have been ignored. Although the response in this case has been well-intentioned, it has, so far, been inadequate, given the scale of the challenge. As the Executive congratulate themselves on the release of the Lough Neagh action plan, which contains some good intentions but not enough meaningful action, their compliance with basic environmental law is in question. The result is that a third of our rivers, lakes and streams fail to meet legal thresholds for water quality. This issue affects constituencies throughout this region. It is also a cross-border issue; as we know, one of the rivers that flows into Lough Neagh originates in Monaghan. Believe it or not, we already have a strong regulatory framework that should protect fresh water and our fresh water environment. Our fresh water should be not only a participant in agriculture but a driver of tourism and fisheries, but we are losing both of those opportunities. The Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) Regulations (NI) 2017 require DAERA to develop and implement river basin management plans over a six-year cycle. Those plans are critical. They should contain a full set of environmental objectives, alongside a programme of measures aimed at achieving them. Like many of the policies and plans that have been put together by the Executive, they have been delayed, and, when they have been published, they have been lacking. As I said, the most recent round of this plan is a legal requirement, but it is three years late; it was due in December 2021. I acknowledge that the Minister sitting here today is not responsible for a significant proportion of that delay, but he is in office now. Not only has it not been implemented but it has not been approved or published. What is more, what has been produced has been criticised as inadequate. I mentioned the Office for Environmental Protection. Although it is not a full independent environmental protection agency, it is the only body with the power to hold DAERA to account. I welcome the fact that it is doing just that today, and that it has done that over the past few days. It was scathing about the Department's attempt at developing an effective management plan. It criticised the plan's weak and generic objectives, the lack of clear and specific plans to achieve the targets that it set, and the lack of clarity on funding for any meaningful delivery of the river basin management plan. In summary, the body tasked with holding the Government to account here in relation to their environmental duties casts strong doubt on whether the river basin management plan will meet any of its targets. It raises concerns that DAERA could be in breach of the water framework directive regulations. That is a damning indictment of the Executive's environmental performance. It goes back a long time. Much of it can be traced back to the implementation of the Going for Growth strategy, which multiple parties, and the serving First Minister, had a role in delivering. The absence of a robust river basin management plan therefore threatens water quality in our rivers, lakes and coastal waters. Any further delay is unacceptable. As I said, a plan is critical for the delivery of any improvement in Lough Neagh and a whole range of assorted issues. The Lough Neagh action plan, such as it is, was hailed as the solution to the issues facing the lough, but it displays many of the same fundamental weaknesses of which the Office for Environmental Protection has already been critical. We acknowledge that this stuff is not easy and that the motion is not —

— going to change everything. We acknowledge that the Minister cannot solve the problems overnight, but the first step is to publish the plan and meet our legal obligations. I think that the Minister wants to do that, but he will respect the fact that we have a job of scrutiny to do by holding him to account for delivering on it. The Executive need to get serious about the environmental catastrophe that is unfolding in our region and do something about it.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:26 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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