11 November 2025
SDLP Opposition AERA Spokesperson Daniel McCrossan MLA has said the Minister must outline his plans to deliver an independent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
He was speaking after the DUP voted against an SDLP Opposition Day motion urging parties to back an independent EPA.
Mr McCrossan questioned how the Minister would get his proposals through the Executive.
West Tyrone MLA Daniel McCrossan said:
“The SDLP Opposition has been clear that we want to see an independent EPA established to regulate and protect our environment. We have already experienced far too much dither and delay, reviews that go nowhere and commitments that have not been delivered upon.
“We brought forward our motion yesterday to urge the Executive to back the Minister’s long-awaited proposals for an independent EPA. The rejection of this motion from the DUP yesterday raises serious questions about how the Minister will now progress an EPA through the Executive. We cannot allow one party to hold our environment to ransom.
“The desperate situation at Lough Neagh is just one of the many crises facing our environment. We are seeing our lakes and rivers polluted, our biodiversity destroyed and some of the most beautiful parts of our island being damaged irreparably. The Minister needs to outline how he’ll cut through this opposition and deliver the independent EPA our environment desperately needs.”