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Minister, you will appreciate that TB has a serious economic impact on farms and a serious emotional impact on farmers. Somewhere in the region of 20,000 cattle each year have to be culled as a result of that desperate disease. From looking at the TB plan, we are talking about it being eight or more years before we…
Thank you, Declan, for raising a key issue for me. I am glad that you have raised it. TB is a vital issue for the farming community in Northern Ireland and for my Department. I thank all the stakeholders who have engaged to agree a blueprint for the future on the issue. Significant work has been undertaken in my…
The responsibility for that sits with the Department for Infrastructure and the Department of Finance. From recollection — I need to check Hansard — I said that I would formally raise the matter with them. I have not done so yet, but I will take that up this week.
Let me be clear: business as usual in Northern Ireland is not an option. If we do not proceed with the proposals set out in the nutrients action programme, we will consign Lough Neagh and many other water bodies across Northern Ireland to further deterioration and, ultimately, to ecological collapse. The longer we…
Last Thursday, I launched a consultation on the nutrients action programme for Northern Ireland. It is important to set out why I have done so. It is a legal requirement. We should also be aware of the priorities of the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) for the forthcoming year. The chair of the Office for…
I am aware of the concerns about that. I do not have anything on that to hand, but I will write to you, and, if necessary, we can meet to go over it. I am conscious of the concerns of your constituents — you articulate them eloquently — and I am happy to engage with you on that.
Go raibh maith agat. Minister, can you give an update on progress on the issue in Killeeshil from the former Northway site, now known as Sawgrass Substrates?
Thank you, Colm. The Northern Ireland Environment Agency continues to receive reports of odour relating to Granville Industrial Estate, particularly Granville Ecopark, which is an anaerobic digestion plant. I am aware of the concerns of local residents, and my inspectors in the Northern Ireland Environment Agency…
I have engaged heavily with my counterparts in the UK Government and in the South. I raised the issue with the Prime Minister at the British-Irish Council in Edinburgh late last year. I have engaged with my colleagues in DEFRA and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. I also recently met Darragh O'Brien,…
We are taking a significant number of actions, and there are actions that have to be taken across government and society. There are many sectors that sit outside my Department's remit that are relevant when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, particularly those that relate to energy and transport. Those actions are…
The Department for Infrastructure is the primary lead on that matter. I am aware of the concerns, but I am also conscious of the ongoing legal issue. As a Department, we will discharge our responsibilities in line with our legal duties.
With the entitlement deadline looming, will the Minister convene an urgent information meeting for all impacted farmers to advise them on the matter? Has he visited any affected farms recently?
I am conscious of those issues; I have received questions for written answer on them. I am also aware of the vesting process and the ongoing legal challenge. If the Member is referring to specific examples, I encourage him to write to me so that I can give him a more definitive reply. We have to respect the rules on…
We have appointed two firms for that, with the potential of a third coming online. That provides a solution for the farming community by moving excess on-site slurry or manure and turning it into a resource that we can use to generate energy and potentially export. A number of sites are in place to do that, including…
Thank you for that concise overview of the various SBRIs. Will you expand a little on what success of the sustainable utilisation of livestock slurry initiative will look like?
No problem. A number of SBRIs are particularly relevant to Lough Neagh. One of those is phase 2 of the sustainable utilisation of livestock slurry initiative. That is ongoing and has proven very successful. It is important that we are conscious of that: I will say a bit more about it next week in the run-up to the…
The Department continues to implement the Lough Neagh action plan. It is really important that we do that. Specifically in relation to the question and bathing water sites and Lough Neagh, as you have raised it, among the seven new sites being formally identified is Northern Ireland's first inland site at Rea's Wood…
The Minister will know that, for a long time, Lough Neagh has been a vital amenity area for local communities. Of course, bathing activity there has been significantly impacted by poor water quality due to blue-green algae in recent years. Given recent instances of blue-green algae on Lough Neagh, what progress is his…
I am conscious of the issue that the Member has outlined. There is a different situation as regards water quality in different bathing areas. I also know that sea swimming is a popular sport that people undertake. I undertook it on Christmas Eve, and I think that I will stick to running. That is my focus. We need to…
Given the popularity of sea swimming and the significant disparities in the levels of potential faecal contamination at bathing water sites across the North, with no more than 17 colony-forming units (CFU) the measurement at Tyrella; up to 690 at Crawfordsburn; up to 1,900 at Warrenpoint; and up to 6,100 in Brompton…
My Department carried out the most current official assessment of bathing water sites in Northern Ireland during the 2024 bathing season. The bathing season runs from 1 June to 15 September. During that period, weekly monitoring and assessments were carried out at 26 identified bathing water sites and seven candidate…