{"id":371308,"date":"2025-08-25T03:10:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T03:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/371308\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T03:10:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T03:10:14","slug":"protest-to-be-held-over-continuing-lough-neagh-crisis-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/371308\/","title":{"rendered":"Protest to be held over continuing Lough Neagh crisis \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Grassroots campaigners are due to stage a demonstration on Monday to draw further attention to Lough Neagh<\/a>\u2019s ongoing pollution crisis.<\/p>\n

The action comes as a third consecutive summer of extensive cyanobacterial (or, \u2018blue-green algae\u2019) blooms means Ireland\u2019s largest inland body of water is once again generating unwelcome publicity. <\/p>\n

The Save Lough Neagh coalition of activists and other campaigning organisations will hold its protest at 1pm by the Finn McCool statue along the lough shore at Antrim. <\/p>\n

Former fishermen, anglers and other campaigners around the lough\u2019s 90-mile perimeter are among the event\u2019s speakers.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/a>\"Woman<\/a><\/p>\n

One local charity, the Lough Neagh Partnership, has claimed this year\u2019s algal blooms are the \u201cworst\u201d it has seen yet. <\/p>\n

There is currently no scientific evidence to support the claims. <\/p>\n

However, blue-green algae has been detected more than 100 times across Northern Ireland in 2025 \u2013 with the majority of sightings occurring in Lough Neagh, the Lower Bann and Lough Erne.<\/p>\n

\"LoughLough Neagh at Ballyronan on Monday 18 August 2025Photo: Lough Neagh Partnership <\/p>\n

P\u00e1id\u00ed MacNiocaill, who lives near Magherafelt, believes this year\u2019s contamination of the lough\u2019s waters could still worsen\u201c.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scenes we are witnessing at the shores of Lough Neagh this year are nothing short of apocalyptic,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnce again dead animals and a toxic stench envelope our shore, and the growth season isn\u2019t even over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fallout from the successive summer pollution events has deepened this year, with a ban<\/a> on commercial eel fishing having been extended<\/a> to cover the entire 2025 season. <\/p>\n

No financial aid or compensation package has materialised so far for the lough\u2019s fishers.<\/p>\n

\"AnAn eel writhes on algae covering the surface of Lough Neagh in footage shred by Western Shore Angling on Facebook <\/p>\n

The Save Lough Neagh collective has reiterated its demands for an independent environmental protection agency, an increased funding settlement for NI Water and a transfer of the lough\u2019s bed and banks into public or community ownership. <\/p>\n

Lough Neagh\u2019s bed, banks and soil are currently owned by Nicholas Ashley-Cooper, the 12th Earl of Shaftesbury. <\/p>\n

Mr MacNiocaill told The Irish News that Stormont had done little to address the pollution crisis.<\/p>\n

Politicians at the devolved parliament will revisit a consultation over farming and land use reform<\/a> when they return following the summer recess period.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, he said, regulation of water pollution and various industrial activities at the lough, including sand extraction, has been poor.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cManagement bodies working with the executive appear reluctant to\u2026break away from this same exploitative mindset, meanwhile an absentee landlord continues to own the lough and profit from [resource] extraction. <\/p>\n

\u201cSwimmers, anglers, people across the shore affected by this ecocide will be making our voices heard loud and clear tomorrow in Antrim that we demand a complete upheaval of how our environment is treated in the north.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Grassroots campaigners are due to stage a demonstration on Monday to draw further attention to Lough Neagh\u2019s ongoing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[99538,1144,856,11191,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-371308","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-lough-neagh","9":"tag-northern-ireland","10":"tag-pollution","11":"tag-stormont","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115087214397681908","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}