10 June 2025 

SDLP Leader of the Opposition Matthew O’Toole MLA has said that Sinn Féin, the DUP and the UUP are abandoning their commitment to save Lough Neagh.

He was speaking after the parties backed a motion calling for a consultation into the AERA Minister’s Nutrients Action Programme (NAP) to be halted.

South Belfast MLA Mr O’Toole said:

“We have heard repeatedly from Sinn Féin, the DUP and the UUP about the importance of protecting Lough Neagh from the yearly infestation of blue-green algae that has become the norm. We have had Assembly motions and even the First Minister herself on the banks of the lough professing her party would do everything possible to protect it. Those promises were nothing but cynical, empty rhetoric.

“In stark contrast, today we saw these same parties line up and vote for the NAP to be abandoned. This very programme has the potential to address the causes of the pollution at Lough Neagh and improve environmental outcomes right across the North, but once again we are seeing Executive parties paying lip service to an issue and buckling at the slightest bit of pressure.

“It is critical that farmers are heard in this consultation and that the department works in partnership with them. But that cannot be at the expense of taking no action at all.”