Speeches by Hanna.

“I have said this before. There is a lot of money being made, not necessarily by family farms in Northern Ireland, but there is a lot of profit in the chain linked to land use around the lough. There are close to hundreds of millions of pounds of profit being made from that intensification.”

“And many others beside. We are aware of that. I wanted to talk about the supports. I do not dispute that most farmers want to make this work. Are there adequate supports? I know there is a bit of a gap between the likes of the Farming with Nature programme and some of the group schemes that are coming to an end. Are yo…”

“Do you think there is adequate on-farm support and co-design with farmers in some of the available schemes?”

“What do you mean by the Environment Agency “being obstructive”?”

“Yes, within the bounds of the allocated funding that you have—and we are getting into how you are trying to deal with a problem without the resource. Do you have any sense of a plan from Northern Ireland Water or the Minister to address the wider funding issues, and to solve the problem that we have with this environme…”

“Very much so, but the issue is that we do not have multiple five-year periods. I suppose it is a political question, and it is unfair to put it on you. On this, house building and all sorts of other issues, day in and day out, we are at a crisis. We are waiting for an investment strategy from the Executive and for this…”

“Last year, your CEO said that there was no point in prosecuting Northern Ireland Water for environmental failures. I suppose the sense was that it did not have either the ability or the resources to address them. Do you understand whether there will be any new mechanisms or approaches coming to enforcement on Northern …”

“Is NI Water preparing for that, and does it feel that it will be able to make the necessary changes?”

“This is not your fault, but we are in one of those big circular flow charts here.”

“Minister, you have regularly spoken about the funding gap and the need to support farmers. The SDLP Opposition have proposed a levy to try to use the very substantial profit that we know is being made by corporations involved in agriculture in and around the lough. You will be aware of a similar voluntary levy on agric…”

“The £7 million would be a start.”

“Others, and possibly you, Minister, have spoken about some of the challenges of one Department being responsible for both agriculture, with its obvious importance to our economy, and environmental protection. Many, including me and you, have spoken about the need for an independent environmental protection agency to we…”

“I am sorry. The Chair is giving me the evil eye about the time. We have been discussing this for two decades. There has been a series of reviews, panels and assessments. There is consensus that we need an independent environmental protection agency. That is something I think you support as well. What is the likelihood …”

“Will we have one in place by the end of the mandate?”

“I have one last question, perhaps to you, Alistair, about the review of sand extraction. It was discussed earlier. Gerry Darby from the Lough Neagh Partnership was talking about the environmental impact, which is probably less than has sometimes been foregrounded. There is obviously now a regulation in place. There had…”

“Thank you very much to all of you. William, in the Lough Neagh action plan, DAERA estimates that 62% of the phosphorus pollution comes from agricultural sources. Is that your understanding?”

“You would not dispute that intensification of farming over that period—I think they said since 2012, but over the last decade—has reversed some of the water quality improvements.”

“Other factors are at play, but is it fairly indisputable that that intensification without mitigations—and I am going to come on to some of those mitigations and the support that is needed—has contributed to a decline in water quality?”

“I am not trying to be blamey, because I want to talk about Farming with Nature and the supports that are and are not available. I believe that farmers, particularly family farms, are trying to achieve the same balance. I am trying to see where there is agreement that that intensification has been a contribution.”

“I have said this before. There is a lot of money being made, not necessarily by family farms in Northern Ireland, but there is a lot of profit in the chain linked to land use around the lough. There are close to hundreds of millions of pounds of profit being made from that intensification.”