Lough Neagh Crisis

The awful sight of swans trapped in thick green algae, needing to be rescued by emergency services shows just how severe this crisis at Lough Neagh has become. I share the deep frustration and growing concern across South Antrim as toxic algae continues to choke our largest body of freshwater.

Lough Neagh is a strategic national asset and a critical source of drinking water, and I am again taking this issue directly to Westminster to request urgent meetings with relevant UK Government Ministers. We need serious, joined-up cross-departmental at both Westminster and Stormont, rather than the disjointed response we have seen locally.

We need to tackle the root causes including the mismanagement and underinvestment in our failing wastewater infrastructure. I am reiterating the call for proper funding reform, including the mutualisation of NI Water. Mutualisation would allow NI Water to borrow against its assets and make the massive capital investments desperately needed to upgrade our network and stop raw sewage discharges, all without imposing water charges on households.

We also need to recognise that sustainable farming has an important role to play in this. There are around 13,000 farmers in the Lough Neagh catchment area, and they want to be part of the solution. Through the Environmental Farming Scheme, local farmers have worked alongside the Lough Neagh Partnership to plant hedgerows and establish buffer zones along waterways to reduce runoff, protect rivers and boost biodiversity. These practical sustainable farming initiatives need to be properly supported and expanded.

Lough Neagh is simply too important to be allowed to deteriorate further. I will continue pressing both Stormont and Westminster for the investment, accountability and cross-departmental leadership needed to save it.