Lough Neagh crisis: Budget branded ‘a day late and dollar short – but it’s decades late and lot of money short’

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/environment/lough-neagh-crisis-budget-branded-a-day-late-and-dollar-short-but-its-decades-late-and-lot-of-money-short/a963025057.html

Dr John Barry says Minister Andrew Muir should alert British and Irish governments and demand help

Liam Tunney
Today at 06:35

The money allocated by Stormont to address ecological problems on Lough Neagh “will not touch the sides” of what is needed, an environmental academic has said.

Last year the Lough was besieged by blooms of blue-green algae, causing vast swathes of thick green substances on its surface.

The crisis resulted from the perfect storm of higher temperatures, prolonged periods of rain and higher nutrient content in the water due to agricultural run-off.

Environment Minister Andrew Muir told the Assembly on Monday that £1.6m had been allocated by the Executive to his department in capital funding and no resource funding for the issues besetting the lough, with officials now looking at other ways to fund the work needed.

Mr Muir said the allocation given to his department was “disappointing”.

He added: “We need to invest in turning the situation round in Lough Neagh.”

The minister also told the Assembly he had commissioned scientific research to assess the effect of removing sand from the lough.

Dr John Barry, Professor of Green Political Economy at Queen’s University Belfast, said the amount allocated would not be anywhere near enough to solve the issues.

“It’s not even going to touch the sides,” he told the Belfast Telegraph.

“The timescales — going on the meeting Save Our Lough had with him last week — were in terms of decades.

“There is an American adage — a day late and a dollar short — but it’s going to be decades late and a lot of money short to address this.

“It is disappointing; the longer we delay addressing the causes of the problems with the Lough, it’s going to take longer and cost more.”

With warmer temperatures expected in 2024 due to the El Nino phenomenon, Dr Barry said the issues that plagued Lough Neagh last year would be even worse this year.

“It’s going to be warmer this year, so it is probably going to be worse than it was last year,” he said.

“The crisis is not caused by climate change, but climate change means the water is warmer, which causes more energy and therefore the algae blooms increase.

“It is a disaster and there is no sign the government is going to be taking it with any degree of seriousness. This really should be an Executive Office priority, not just for DAERA.”

Dr Barry said Mr Muir should be alerting the British and Irish governments to the scale of the problem and demanding more money.

“I think this is such an emergency and it has been declared as such. This is 40% of our drinking water, the largest freshwater lake in these islands. It is an extraordinary situation,” he said.

“Why isn’t he going to the British government and Irish government and saying, ‘Give us more money’? That would be evidence that he is really taking this seriously, rather than asking his [Executive] colleagues nicely.

“He has now tasked his officials to go and find a bit of money down the back of a sofa and we all know how that’s going to work out — it’s not going to be enough.

“This is going to run and run; it’s going to get considerably worse. We could be looking at irreparable damage to the Lough unless it’s addressed now.”

It comes after the Assembly passed a motion calling for an “ecological and biodiversity crisis” to be declared in Northern Ireland.

The motion, tabled by the SDLP opposition, also urged DAERA to bring forward legislation to establish an independent Environmental Protection Agency as outlined in the 2020 New Decade, New Approach agreement.

Mid Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone welcomed the passing of the motion.

“In the past few days with the spell of hot weather we are already seeing signs of the re-emergence of the toxic algae blooms which wreaked such havoc over the past year, killing wildlife, destroying biodiversity and impacting local businesses,” he said.

“The reasons for the ecological crisis at the Lough are well-worn, but it is deeply disappointing that we stand here again on the brink of another summer where little has been done to address these issues.

“Parties have been clear on the need to act to protect the long-term future of the Lough.

“One of the Minister’s first visits after assuming office was to the Lough, but we need action if we are going to save this precious resource.

“Protecting our environment should be a priority for every department and there needs to be ownership of this issue from the entire Executive.

“The SDLP has been calling for an independent Environmental Protection Agency for well over a decade and it was agreed as part of New Decade, New Approach.

“What we have been doing up until this point clearly isn’t working and it is our view that an independent body will give us the best chance of safeguarding our natural resources like Lough Neagh.”