PRESS RELEASE
HARTE COYLE COLLINS
SOLICITORS & ADVOCATES
2ND SEPTEMBER 2024
ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST ISSUES 2 PRE-ACTION PROTOCOL LETTERS AGAINST STORMONT MINISTER FOR FAILURE TO ACT ON LOUGH NEAGH CRISIS & FAILURE TO PUBLISH ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN (EIP)
Lawyers instructed by Mr Leon Brooks, an environmental activist, have issued 2 pre-action protocol letters in contemplation of potential judicial review proceedings against the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) for failure to (a) publish the Environmental Improvement Plan due since July 2023 and (b) failure to take meaningful enforcement action against those who are polluting Lough Neagh and the rivers feeding it as the algal bloom crisis worsens.
In the first pre-action protocol letter issued on Friday 30th August 2024 lawyers for Mr Brooks raised the statutory obligation under the Environment Act 2021 which requires DAERA to prepare an Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) setting out the steps the Northern Ireland Executive intends to take to improve our natural environment. This EIP is fundamental to tackling the ongoing ecological crisis at Lough Neagh as was recognised by the DAERA Minister Andrew Muir MLA in March of this year when he stated that “the starting point for Lough Neagh is the Environment Strategy and Northern Irelands first Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) which will significantly improve our natural environment and set the direction of travel for the coming decades, to improve water quality, including at Lough Neagh”
The statutory obligation to produce the EIP arising from the 2021 Act came into force on 25th July 2023. Despite repeated correspondence from the Office for Environmental Protection emphasising the importance of this plan being published urgently it remains outstanding over a year later.
In the second pre-action protocol letter issued to the Minister today 2nd September 2024 Mr Brooks alleges that Stormont has failed to use the enforcement methods currently available to take meaningful action against those who are polluting Lough Neagh and the feeder rivers. The 14 page PAPL sets out the enforcement mechanisms which are available, provides the statistics on the low level of enforcement measures used to date and notes the Executive’s silence on the issue of changes to the cap on subsidy reduction for farmers found responsible for waterway pollution.
Mr Brooks has requested responses to both letters from the Minister within 21 days. Subject to the Minister’s response he will then consider the merits of court action.
Cathal Mullan, trainee lawyer in Harte Coyle Collins, Solicitors & Advocates Environmental Law Department said today;
“If the past is a good predictor of the future, then Stormont’s commitment to tackling the ecological crisis at Lough Neagh is seriously in question. Almost 25 years ago, Professor of Environmental Law Sharon Turner stated in an academic article that “continued tolerance of comparatively lax regulation will also ensure that Northern Ireland rapidly emerges as a pollution haven”. Professor Turner’s warning is now a reality. The ecological crisis at Lough Neagh and our government’s failure to regulate those polluting our waterways, has left our client no option but to issue pre-action correspondence to DAERA challenging its failure to effectively investigate and enforce the laws designed to protect Lough Neagh.”
Mr Brooks has called on DAERA and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency to “take their share of the responsibility in allowing Northern Ireland to be known as the dirty corner of Europe through decades of light touch regulation and accept that business-as-usual just won’t cut it anymore.”
Mr Brooks is represented by the Environmental Law team at Harte Coyle Collins, Nichola Harte, Patricia Coyle, Cathal Mullan, Meadbh O Dowd, and counsel Ms Karen Quinlivan KC and Ms Lara Smyth BL.
Harte Coyle Collins
Solicitors & Advocates
9-15 Queen Street
Belfast
BT1 6EA
Contact 02890 278227
