Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to detail the level of financial commitment (i) the Executive; and (ii) his Department has given over the next three years to the implementation of the proposals contained in the Lough Neagh Action Plan.
Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs: The Executive has allocated £1.5 million Resource DEL and £1.6 million Capital DEL to DAERA to take forward work on Lough Neagh in 2024-25. I have supplemented this with internal departmental allocations of £2.8 million Resource DEL and £1.6 million Capital DEL which means that £7.5 million has been allocated in this financial year towards improving water quality, addressing the challenges in Lough Neagh and tackling blue green algae.
I will continue to work with Executive colleagues to secure further funding in 2025-26 and 2026-27 as part of the Budget and Monitoring Round exercises for those years as we work to implement the 37 actions. The Resource DEL and Capital DEL that has been allocated so far is a welcome injection of funding enabling additional resources to be directed to key areas of work and take forward the actions in the plan as a priority.
While some funding has been received and is being used, all the proposals in the action plan are not funded. A significant bid has also been made to the Transformation Fund for Lough Neagh specific actions and this is currently being considered by the interim Public Sector Transformation Board.
ENDS
Your MLA 