Save Lough Neagh: Hundreds Gather For Stormont Protest

For the past four years, Ireland’s largest lake Lough Neagh has been devastated every summer by toxic algae blooms. These blooms are caused in large part by run-off of fertiliser and septic tank leakage. 40% of the North’s drinking water is sourced from the lough.  

On Saturday at 2pm, several hundred campaigners united to march up the Stormont estate with the shared aim of saving Lough Neagh.

The March for Clean Water, organised and led by the Save Lough Neagh campaign, attracted several political parties and groups such as Friends Of The Earth NI, as well as hundreds of citizens carrying handmade banners and placards. None of the five largest parties in the North were present. 

The march began with a large gathering at the gates of Stormont, before the protesters travelled up the driveway and came to a stop at the stairs to the Parliament Buildings.

Once they reached the top, the campaigners placed at the foot of Stormont six bottles of Lough Neagh water, which had been scooped from its shores that morning. The water was visibly green and murky, with a thick layer of algae floating on top. 

“The only thing more poisoned than this water here,” said campaign spokesperson Pádraig Mac Niocaill, “is the Stormont establishment.” He decried the “Going for Growth” strategy implemented by Stormont, which boosted agricultural growth at the expense of environmental health. He also criticised the continued lack of a dedicated environmental agency or ministry in the North, where the government had lumped the issue into the Agricultural minister’s portfolio.

Speakers included local fisherman Declan Coney, who commented on the adverse effects to his and other fishermen’s livelihoods. He slammed organisations such as the Lough Neagh Partnership and the Fishermen’s Co-operative for destructive overfishing which was massively damaging eel stock, as well as the absence of environmental groups around the Lough. He spoke to the experience of indigenous fishermen, who felt their lifestyles were being eroded both from the conditions of the lough and the destructive industry that was forming around them.

Swimmer and campaigner Mary O’Hagan focused on the coming health crisis from the tainted water. She stated that her swimming group had to be disbanded due to the conditions of the lough, and warned that toxic water exposure can result in cancer clusters or cryptosporidium.

Ruby Free from Surfers Against Sewage added that the water had already given some swimmers gastroenteritis. She gave a chilling assessment of the health of our waterways, stating that half of local swimmers reported sickness as a result of water contamination. She also criticised the government’s lack of transparency regarding sewage, as Stormont has the data on sewage in public waterways but refuses to release it. 

James Orr, director of Friends of the Earth NI, began by paying tribute to a similar battle taking place against polluters in the Sperrins. He highlighted activists’ recent victories against fracking in Ballinae and the construction of an incinerator in Derry, stating that “campaigning works”. 

The protest ended with the speakers emptying the bottles onto the steps of Stormont. If the Executive had protected the Lough, this would have been an act of cleansing. Instead, the campaigners left a putrid green sludge which Stormont must now clean up.