Paul Murphy: Where is the plan to stop lake pollution?
Paul Murphy asks the Taoiseach for a concrete national plan to stop agricultural pollution destroying Irish lakes. He cites the EPA's recent findings and presses ministers on action after protests at Lough Neagh.
Protest and evidence
Paul Murphy opens by recalling the Lough Neagh protest and highlights the EPA research showing two-thirds of studied southern lakes are at risk under the Water Framework Directive. He names lakes identified as high risk and notes Ladies Island in Wexford as an example of severe blue-green algal damage.
EPA conclusions and causes
The EPA identifies agricultural diffuse pollution, especially phosphorus runoff from pasture-based farming, as the primary driver behind algal blooms affecting three-quarters of Ireland's lakes. The report recommends limiting phosphorus application, controlling livestock access to waterways, and improved slurry and manure management.
Government response and questions
Murphy asks the Taoiseach directly: where is the harmful algal bloom action plan for Irish lakes? The Taoiseach replies that the Nitrates Directive and regional plans, Shared Island support for Lough Neagh, and forthcoming derogation-based action plans will address water quality, but Murphy presses for clearer, faster measures.
Implications and next steps
The exchange frames urgent policy decisions: whether current measures and the planned action under derogation will meet the EPA's recommendations and prevent further ecocide of lakes like Lough Neagh and Ladies Island. Murphy's intervention seeks to hold government ministers to account for delivery and timelines.
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Deputy Morphy. Thanks, Minister Ciann Comhairle. Taoiseach, nine days ago, hundreds of people marched to Lough Neagh to protest the ecocide of our largest lake. Last year, the EPA published research on 35 lakes in the south. Two-thirds are classed as at risk under the Water Framework Directive. Seven important Irish lakes are found to be at high risk of Lough Neagh-type toxic algal blooms. Lough Sturg, Ramoore, Sheelan, Sillan, Mucknow and Aglech. Ladies Island in Wexford, where toxic blue-green algae have all but killed the lake, was not included in the research. The EPA says that agricultural diffuse pollution is the most important pressure on most Irish water bodies. They say that phosphorus runoff from pasture-based farming is the most important land-based factor behind algal blooms, significantly impacting three-quarters of our lakes. The EPA report mentions limiting phosphorus application by farmers, controlling livestock access and safely storing slurry and manure. They recommend creating a harmful algal bloom action plan for Irish lakes. Where is the plan Taoiseach? What are you going to do to stop pollution from agriculture, devastating more of our lakes, like what has happened in Lough Neagh and Ladies Island? Deputy Murphy in terms of Lough Neagh and the destruction of many lakes. The Nitrates Directive does deal and will deal with regional plans in terms of water quality across the country. We have supported through Shared Island projects in respect of trying to deal with Lough Neagh. We have met with the ministers in the north. They are really very frustrated and worried about their capacity to deal with it because of how far it has gone in terms of the destruction of the habitat there, in terms of the lake and the water and the quality and so on. We have contributed to trying to help them to deal with the issue. More broadly in terms of lakes across the country and the EPA's work, the Minister for Agriculture and the Minister for Housing, in the context of the derogation over the next three years, will be implementing significant action plans in respect of water quality across the length and breadth of the country because there is an agricultural dimension to it of that there is no doubt.
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