Editorial: The worst polluters of Lough Neagh must be made to face heavy fines

Morning View

​Last month Stormont was right to note the “biodiversity and ecological breakdown in Lough Neagh”.

The News Letter has revealed that the number of pollution incidents caused by Northern Ireland Water in the lough’s catchment area increased last year. Now toxic algae is accumulating again.

This is both a crisis and a scandal. It calls for urgent action, including severe penalties for the worst polluters.

There is a dispute among MLAs over plans by the Environment Minister Andrew Muir to deal with pollution, such as a new regulation to ban excess phosphorous (fertiliser) being put on the land if the soil already has enough under the Soil Nutrient Health Scheme. The DUP is opposed to this, as it is to consultation on the sentencing framework around fines and penalties for environmental crimes such as waste dumping and polluting rivers.

The party has yet to answer a question from this newspaper as to why it opposed Mr Muir’s plan.

The News Letter is proud of its links to rural society and to agriculture, which are so central to Northern Ireland’s culture and its economy. We have strongly backed appropriate support for farming, such as for parts of the industry which are struggling to survive. We have also strongly opposed utterly unrealistic Net Zero targets that could bring ruin to parts of the agricultural world.

Furthermore, we acknowledge that farmers overwhelmingly play by the rules as they advance their vital work, and sometimes such rules are too onerous.

There is no inconsistency in adopting those pro farming stances while also saying that any business of any description that has, even if just through negligence rather than with intent, played a major part in the pollution of Lough Neagh must know that it will face severe fines – and it must know that soon, so that this huge environmental problem can begin to be alleviated.