The controversial topic was debated in the Stormont chamber this week, with Ms Lockhart in full support of her DUP colleagues who voted against the motion to establish yet another agency with an environmental remit.

The MP said: “Protecting Northern Ireland’s natural environment requires leadership, accountability and a willingness to take difficult decisions. Minister Muir must focus less on creating new bodies and more on delivering the results that our environment, and the communities who depend upon it, urgently need.

“Once again, we have the Minister responsible for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, attempting to side-step the thorny and difficult decisions that are required of him. We’ve witnessed his delaying tactics on bovine TB and the need for wildlife intervention, but this time he is shying away from his department’s responsibilities for improving environmental protection in Northern Ireland.

The reality is that the DAERA Minister already has an environmental body - the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) - within his portfolio. Rather than pushing responsibility in another direction, the Minister should be focused on delivering real outcomes through the structures that already exist.

There is no need for yet more public expenditure or the creation of another layer of bureaucracy. The people of Northern Ireland expect action and leadership, not further administrative reshuffling that risks diluting accountability.

Northern Ireland already has a significant number of arm’s-length bodies, agencies and regulators operating under the ‘environmental’ umbrella. At a time when public finances are under intense pressure, it is ludicrous to even consider another unnecessary and costly organisation that will bring with it even more red tape and bureaucracy.

Public money should be spent on practical action to improve water quality, protect habitats and restore biodiversity - not on expanding administrative structures that will tell us what we already know.

“A classic example is Shared Environment Services (SES), created in 2015 to streamline environmental planning following the transfer of centralised powers to local councils. The body has become a self-appointed ‘de facto gatekeeper’ in the planning system - a bureaucratic choke point that is stifling farm development and investment through excessive delays, duplication and ever-shifting goal posts.”

“I don’t deny that strengthening environmental governance must remain a top priority. There is an urgent need to restore public confidence and ensure that environmental standards are properly regulated and upheld.

There is understandable frustration among communities about environmental decline and the perception that enforcement has not always been as robust or consistent as it should be. That must change.

Structural reform alone will not solve those problems if the political will to act is absent. Farmers are being unfairly blamed, while other sectors go unchallenged. The Minister must face hard facts, get his own house in order, and deliver meaningful results. The 20 million tonnes of raw sewage discharged annually into our waterways by a government agency is disgraceful and unacceptable.



We need strong environmental protections and proper accountability. No false promises, political grandstanding or Ministers attempting to pass responsibility elsewhere when difficult decisions must be made.