Bernadette McAliskey has described the Earl of Shaftesbury as a "handy scapegoat" for the plight of Lough Neagh and argues instead that "collective failure" is responsible for the environmental catastrophe that has unfolded over recent months.
The one-time MP and veteran civil rights campaigner, who remains on the board of the dormant Lough Neagh Development Trust, says aristocrat Nicholas Ashley-Cooper is "not without blame" for the lough's deterioration but that arguing over ownership of Ireland's largest fresh water body will only delay a resolution to the current crisis.
Mrs McAliskey told The Irish News that while she disputes the basis on which the Earl of Shaftesbury claims ownership of the bed of Lough Neagh, she says the urgency of the situation demands "pragmatism".
"The reality is that if like me you want to save the lough, getting into political and legal dispute over whether that man owns it or not will take too long," she says.
"It is the longest and most expensive route, by which time, there'll be nothing left to own."
Mr Ashley-Cooper, the 12th Earl of Shaftesbury, has said he remains "open to discussing options for future ownership".
A civil servants' report published in 2014 concluded there were no "tangible benefits to the effective management of the lough, should it be brought into public ownership".
The 44-year-old Devon-based aristocrat, whose family inherited the lough bed from the descendants of Sir Arthur Chichester, said his estate has "long advocated for the need for a centrally-managed, government body which has the authority to regulate all of the activities which impact the health and protection of the lough".
Currently a range of government departments and arm's length bodies are responsible for the management of Lough Neagh, which provides 40 per cent of the region's drinking water but this year has been plagued by extensive blooms of toxic green-blue algae.
The earl has faced criticism on social media, including from Ulster Unionist peer Lord Kilclooney (John Taylor), and in a statement from People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll, who said he "should not be entitled to a single penny for its transfer into public hands".
Earlier this week, the earl told the BBC the lough was "often used as an excuse for political inaction".
Mrs McAliskey (76) was a founding member of Lough Neagh Development Trust, which was set up in 2016 with the aim of exploring the potential for community management and ownership of the lough. It came into being following a comprehensive Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs-sponsored report, produced by Development Trust NI, exploring ways of taking the lough into community ownership. Despite initial enthusiasm, including an endorsement of the trust from the then agriculture minister Michelle O'Neill, the project lost momentum in the years Stormont was down between 2017-20.
Mrs McAliskey, who like her "mother's people" before her lives in Co Tyrone close to the lough, blames the environmental disaster that has unfolded over recent years on sand dredging, nutrient-rich run-off from farming across an expansive catchment, and sewage – including overspill from septic tanks along the lough's shores. Though in addition to criticising political apathy and the risk averse civil service, she also highlights the need for people to take personal responsibility for their actions.
"Nobody is clean of the harm that has been done to the lough," she says.
The former MP for Mid Ulster believes the pathway to community ownership set out in the 2016 report remains "valid" and provides the best route out of the current crisis, but she acknowledges little will happen while the institutions are dormant.
"It's a starting point for solutions instead of blame," she says.
"Sadly it's a habit we've honed to perfection in Northern Ireland that when we see a problem we don't look at a solution until we find a way to blame an opponent – that's the political rationale but it's what we would call in the country 'the road to no town'."
She argues that the process of taking the lough bed out of private ownership will involve engagement with the Earl of Shaftesbury – and paying him.
"The only way we can acquire it is to do deal with the man," she says of dealing with the often-vilified earl.
Mrs McAliskey contests the historic basis of the earl's claim but says he is a "handy scapegoat" for what she terms "collective failure".
"That's not to say that he is not a contributor to the problem but he is not the sole contributor by any means – and he is willing to participate in a solution," she says.
"Problems need solutions and no part of the solution can be found by throwing stones at political opponents and the Earl of Shaftesbury – and that's all that anybody's doing."
