Lough Neagh is dying.
It has been failed by those tasked to protect it on our behalf. The Green Party first raised the plight of Lough Neagh in 2014, asking a total of 141 questions about the Lough to executive ministers responsible, more than any other party, but our concerns fell on deaf ears. The decline of Lough Neagh has been exacerbated by the private ownership of the Lough. The Green Party calls for the Lough to be taken into public hands so that it can be managed for the good of the environment and the people who live here.
The situation at the Lough has been compounded with no sitting Executive at Stormont currently in place, this has led to no political leadership on what is an environmental and ecological disaster. Yet previous decisions regarding the implementation of the Going for Growth Strategy, signed off and supported by all Executive Parties in 2015 and the rapid expansion of industrial agriculture has played a significant role in the levels of pollutions now in the Lough. As well as dredging of the Lough bed for sand, which was given the go ahead by the then SDLP minister for Department for Infrastructure, Nicola Mallon in 2020.
The Green Party is fighting for a new ownership model fit for the 21st century and that the communities around the Lough must be central to it’s future.
Join the Green Party in calling on the the UK government, or the Northern Ireland executive if it is able to be formed, to bring Lough Neagh into public ownership, so it can be managed in a sustainable way on behalf of the people who live here.