Member's statement: Blue-green Algae: Lough Neagh

Member's statement by Mr Peter McReynolds on 2 June 2025.

MLA

Mr Peter McReynolds

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

2 June 2025

Type

Member's statement

Business

Members' Statements

Heading

Blue-green Algae: Lough Neagh

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4980700

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I wish to speak about the reappearance of blue-green algae in Lough Neagh. It was the subject of one of the first motions that I spoke on in the Chamber last year, and it is something for which there is no silver bullet. Instead, it is for all of us in the Chamber and Departments working cross-departmentally to restore Lough Neagh to a clean and environmentally sound waterbody. The Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs has rightly put his shoulder to the wheel on the challenges that he faces to correct the pollution at Lough Neagh, but he cannot do that alone. As an infrastructure spokesperson for the Alliance Party, I am fully aware of the role of the statement of regulatory principles and intent (SORPI) in adding to the pollution of the lough, an arrangement that puts Northern Ireland Water into a separate regulatory regime from others and lets it off the hook for polluting our waterways. That said, 24% of nutrients found in Lough Neagh originated in waste water. The discharge of untreated sewage by Northern Ireland Water is currently allowed under the SORPI arrangements, with minimal punishment in place. However, while I am content to criticise Northern Ireland Water, we must recognise that it discharges so much untreated sewage because of years of inadequate capital budgets from the Department, and its hands are tied behind its back. The solutions being proposed and explored by the Minister for Infrastructure will barely touch the surface of what we need to deliver a world-class water service for everyone across Northern Ireland. As with all major engineering projects, long-term strategic planning and the ability to borrow what is needed are required to deliver clean water and stop polluting Lough Neagh and other environmental assets. Northern Ireland Water is an outlier in comparison with water utilities across the world, and the fact remains that no other country provides water services like we do. I call on the Minister for Infrastructure and her Department to publish the reports that have been prepared over the years on the efficacy of the funding model. I have asked for the reports multiple times at the Infrastructure Committee, but they are kept internal and are unavailable for scrutiny. The Department for Infrastructure can no longer bury its head in its hands on the matter. It is not just us in Alliance calling out the chaos: last week, the Office for Environmental Protection called it out in the AERA Committee. The Department can no longer ignore the role that NI Water plays in an ecological crisis that we can, once again, see with our very eyes in Lough Neagh and other waterways in Northern Ireland.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:40 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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