The pollution of Lough Neagh is sometimes viewed as a metaphor for the poisoning of political life at Stormont.
The troubles on the lough are due to eutrophication. This is a process which occurs when an entire body of water becomes progressively enriched with nutrients.
When occurring naturally, eutrophication is a very slow process. However, anthropogenic (man-made) eutrophication in a fresh water system is often much more rapid. Excess nutrients, usually nitrates or phosphates, are added to the environment as fertiliser run-off and sewerage discharge. They stimulate the excess growth of algae and other aquatic plants, forming the familiar algal blooms. When the algae die in over-productive eutrophic lakes they decompose and this process consumes dissolved oxygen.
The resulting anaerobic conditions may lead to fish kills, a reduction in biodiversity and a release of greenhouse gases such as methane and CO2. There is a close correlation between the toxic eutrophic conditions and health issues which is very concerning given that 40 per cent of Northern Ireland’s drinking water is taken from the lough.
There are a number of ways to try to mitigate the impact of agricultural pollution. They include the following techniques. Nutrient management – application of fertilizer in the correct amount, at the right time, via the correct method. All-year ground cover – a cover crop such as clover will prevent periods of bare ground and run-off of nutrients after the growing season has ended. Field buffers – planting trees, shrubs and grasses along the edges of fields will help catch the run-off and absorb some nutrients. Conservation tillage - reducing the frequency and intensity of tilling the land will enhance nutrient absorption into the ground.
It is unclear if Stormont has encouraged any of these farming methods. But it is clear that Stormont did tolerate and facilitate the enrichment of the lough. The ‘Going for Growth’ agricultural strategy overseen by Michelle O’Neill and backed by all five major parties promoted and subsidised a move away from traditional farming to large-scale factory farms. Poultry and pig farms increased production dramatically.
This transition in farming methods has literally turned parts of Northern Ireland into a vast slurry pit. This negative impact was further exacerbated by a failure to crack down on persistent polluters. In fact the DUP minister Edwin Poots slashed the fines on offenders.
The SDLP has called for the establishment of an independent Environment Protection Agency with robust enforcement powers to address this ecological crisis and counter political populism as exemplified by Mr Poots. Experts believe that without effective and immediate intervention, Lough Neagh, the largest lake on these islands, will become ‘a stinking septic tank’ from which we can no longer draw drinking water.
Lough Neagh, indeed the province, is at a tipping point.
George Workman
Donabate, Co Dublin
Another demonstration of moral bankruptcy at the heart of the West
Nagorno-Karabakh, the self-proclaimed republic, announced its intention to disband its state institutions effective January 1 2024. From that date on it will become part of Azerbaijan. The latest news is that the ethnic Armenians have fled, adding another 100,000 people to the world’s refugees.
Karabakh’s fate was sealed with the election of Pashinyan as PM in 2018 and after the conflict of 2020 he agreed to recognise Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, brokered by France and the EU.
Brussels placed itself at the centre of the campaign to be a regional peacekeeper. This latest refugee exodus is a stinging rebuke to the EU and a crippling failure for their efforts. But this will not move the EU or Washington to act, nor will it impel them to apply sanctions on a larger force acting aggressively against its smaller neighbour. This is because the aggressor this time is a crucial partner on natural gas supply.
The 100,000 ethnic Armenians who have packed their belongings into cars, trucks and buses are demanding where the EU and the Americans are. These demands are met with silence as Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen has described the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev as one of Europe’s more ‘reliable, trustworthy’ partners.
The EU and Washington’s response to this latest crisis was to send €5 million and $11.5 million respectively, compared to the hundreds of billions received by Ukraine and counting.
This has been a fiasco for the ethnic Armenians who have proved unfortunately to be without resources useful to the power-brokers in Brussels and Washington. The nauseating hypocrisy in the pursuit of resources over human life is another demonstration of the moral bankruptcy at the heart of the West.
Laurence Todd
Belfast BT15
What would united Ireland mean to make-up of British coat of arms?
Watching a recent programme on TV on the subject of ‘The Troubles’, which showed a picture of the British coat of arms in the background, my eye caught, in particular, the harp, representing Ireland, amongst the representations of England, Scotland and Wales.
And then, the penny dropped, as it were, and I asked myself: What would a united Ireland mean to the make-up of that coat of arms? It would of course have to be altered to depict the changed situation, as the British ‘crown’ would no longer have any jurisdiction over any part of the `island of Ireland’. Therefore, given that possibility at some time in the future, could it, by chance, be a deliberate, unstated, blind-eye scenario that Britain refuses to face and is determined, at all cost, to prevent happening? Far fetched? I don’t think so. It may seem a small and insignificant aspect of the whole complex problem that is Northern Ireland but I am convinced that the British ‘coat of arms’ question is a hidden and unstated one in the establishment that is the United Kingdom, given the upheaval that a united Ireland would cause.
Peter Pallas
Bantry, Co Cork
