Belfast City councillors passed a motion calling for Lough Neagh to be brought into public ownership due to the disastrous handling of its ecology which has seen unprecedented levels of toxic algae on the shores of the Lough.
There are multiple groups owning the Lough. For example the bed and soil is owned by the Earl of Shaftesbury. Councillor Smyth noted that currently 20 public authorities have responsibility over the Lough and all are passing the blame between themselves. He described the fresh water Lough, which is the largest on the British Isles, and provides 40 per cent of the North's drinking water, as a "dying body of water surrounded by committees".
The Lough had been in the news over the previous month for all the wrong reasons and the destruction of its ecology, and the rise in the deaths of birds and dogs, with the algae travelling up the Bann River making the lake dangerous for humans and animals.
The blame for the pollution is cited as being industrial farm waste and agricultural run off which is rich in nutrients and which the algae thrives by feeding on. Councillor Smyth stated that people may ask why Belfast Council was bringing this forward but noted the city gets most of its drinking water from the Lough. He proposed the Lough be taken into public ownership along the lines of other countries such as New Zealand.
Councillor Smyth said the Lough was our most important ecological asset, and to hurt it, we hurt ourselves and that the climate crisis was no longer happening in distant countries but was now on our very doorstep.