Part of Ministerial Statements – in the Northern Ireland Assembly am 11:30 am ar 25 Mehefin 2024.
This is an issue of concern, and it has been reported in the media. I will go back to the Member with further information on the River Roe. Investigations are ongoing. That is yet another fish kill in Northern Ireland, and there have been too many of those, not just in recent years but in recent weeks. That is why we need to be able to take a clear approach to the issue of water quality and why the Lough Neagh report and action plan is key. It is about that balanced approach between education and incentivisation, as well as regulation and enforcement. That can be used as a model for other rivers, lakes and loughs in Northern Ireland affected by water quality issues. It is absolutely fundamental.
On fish kills, if people become aware of any, I urge them to urgently report them to the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) and its pollution hotline, because it is important such issues are investigated. One of the reasons behind the resources that I have been putting into enforcement in my Department is that investigating such issues to get a level of evidence that would be satisfactory to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) to take forward a prosecution is extremely resource-intensive. That is why we need to have resources to do the investigations around us. It is therefore key that people report, and then, hopefully, we will have the resources to investigate. There are too many pollution incidents, and, as an Assembly, an Executive and a society, we need to make sure that we have a zero-tolerance approach to pollution and encourage people to report such incidents so we can investigate them.