Debate contribution: Independent Environmental Protection Agency

Debate contribution by Mr Andrew McMurray on 10 March 2026.

MLA

Mr Andrew McMurray

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

10 March 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Independent Environmental Protection Agency

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5437159

Read the official Assembly record

Text

It is no secret that our environment has suffered from decades of neglect and our system of government is not fit for purpose in being able to progress the structural changes required to deliver meaningful improvement in our environment. We need to be able to progress policy that delivers on the public's priorities within the Executive. That is what was promised on that famous day in 1998. However, instead, we have a system of government defined by constant standstill, delay and veto. The veto exercised over creating an environmental protection agency is just one more example of this inaction. Certain parties have shamefully collapsed our institutions before, with severe consequences for public service delivery, long-term planning and the delivery of good government. That includes severe environmental crises where our response to those issues was hampered by the lack of functioning institutions. Much has been said by every party in the Chamber about the ecological crisis facing Lough Neagh. It is time that other parties stopped paying lip service and politics to the environment and got serious about tackling the issues. One party's actions ensured that there was no Executive in place to respond to the emergence of blue-green algae in the lough in 2023. Today, it is unilaterally preventing the AERA Minister from putting an IEPA in place to better protect the lough and the wider environment. Is it any wonder that public confidence in the Assembly is at such a low ebb when we have one party blocking a policy that has broad support across the rest of the Executive and Assembly? This way, nothing contentious gets done, we do not lead on issues where we should, and we do a terrible injustice to everyone in the country. My Minister is the Minister for Agriculture, he is the Minister for Rural Affairs, and he is the Minister for the Environment. That part of the brief has long been neglected, noticeably by the DUP when it held that portfolio. I commend the Minister for changing that and for taking the environment brief seriously for the first time in a long time.

Regrettably, we have no shortage of environmental catastrophes in Northern Ireland.

Will I get an extra minute? I have a lot to get through.

Thank you.

Thank you; perhaps I can slow myself down a bit as well. I appreciate that, and, yes, it reflects greatly on the importance of the environment that we pushed back on that and made sure that it was included. Purely from an economic perspective, the water quality crisis in our rivers, bringing the death of Lough Neagh, Belfast lough and so many other bodies of water across the Province, and the illegal dumping at Mobuoy, which could cost hundreds of millions of pounds to remedy, are costing our economy dearly. They are eating up colossal amounts of public money; money that should be spent on addressing the many other issues that we face. Preventing those catastrophes from the outset is a prime example of invest to save —.

I have a lot to get through.

I will come on to our waste water infrastructure in a moment, but the Member makes a valuable point. On the subject of better environmental governance, I know that farmers are cognisant of the role that they play in looking after the environment. Indeed, they are frustrated by other Departments that are dragging their heels when it comes to tackling issues such as waste water infrastructure. Better environmental governance will also be crucial in turning back the tide on climate change, the impact of which is already having significant consequences for the agriculture sector, particularly due to flooding, drought and other severe events. However, livelihoods are being put at risk due to the lack of environmental safeguards that the DUP stands against. We must not talk about the environment as purely an economic matter either. To simply reduce it down to a decision based on market forces does it a disservice. We all depend on a functioning ecosystem for our very survival. We cannot keep killing the planet that we live on. We have a moral duty to respect and acknowledge the inherent value of the environment. Minister Muir brought plans for an independent environmental protection agency to the Executive in November 2025. That did not come out of the blue; it was part of the New Decade, New Approach commitment that the DUP signed up to at the time and which continues to have cross-party support. The independent review of environmental governance also recommended that there should be an independent environmental protection agency. At this point, the only stumbling block is the DUP's refusal to let an EPA progress. Founded on a diet of "No, No, No", nothing seems to have changed in the DUP's conception, and now it is the people and the environment that are suffering. We need an independent environmental protection agency specifically, but we also need to reform our institutions in order to remove those kinds of blocks and vetoes, which are undemocratic and frequently abused. An independent environmental protection agency is not a matter of legacy or national identity. Green/orange or right/left, political persuasions should not matter when it comes to our environment. It is a shared resource that we should all take an interest in protecting and restoring. There is absolutely no justification for a single party to be holding everyone else to ransom because of anti-science, anti-climate dogma. Unfortunately, that kind of situation keeps happening again and again. It needs to stop, and it should have stopped yesterday. We in the Alliance Party have made that case ad nauseam. It is now more urgent than ever that the fundamental flaws in our structures are addressed so that we can all move forward to enhance government delivery and improve the quality of life for people in Northern Ireland. Our people deserve a Government that function effectively, and everyone has the right to have —

— a healthy and flourishing environment.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:13 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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