Save Lough Neagh is a coalition of activists fighting to defend the Lough from pollution and extractive exploitation. REBEL spoke to Pádraig Ó Ciaráin to discuss the roots of the ecological crisis and the campaign’s determined efforts to protect this vital body of water.
Rebel: Before discussing the crisis facing Lough Neagh and the campaign it has inspired, can you give some background on the Lough itself and its significance?
Pádraig Ó Ciaráin: Lough Neagh is one of Europe’s largest and most iconic freshwater bodies – a place of both incredible biodiversity and stunning beauty. It is home to several unique and rare species, such as the Lough Neagh fly, the eel and the pollan (a type of herring found nowhere else on the planet). The Lough provides drinking water to 40% of the residents of the north of Ireland, and along its shores are treasured parks and nature reserves – fond haunts of swimmers, anglers and dog-walkers.
The Lough also has a treasured place within the rich weave of Irish folklore and mythology. From the ancient story of Fionn Mac Cumhaill scooping up a sod of earth and throwing it into the sea, simultaneously forming both Lough Neagh and the Isle of Man; to tales of Lí Ban, the mermaid goddess living beneath the surface: the Lough and its stories have inspired generations of poets, musicians and artists living around the shores.
Rebel: Give us an overview of the crisis currently unfolding at Lough Neagh.
PÓC: In 2023, a series of severe algae blooms took over Lough Neagh, quickly becoming the worst seen in decades. These blooms turned the surface of the Lough into a toxic green sludge, harmful to both humans and animals. Fish, insect and bird populations plummeted, swimming and fishing were prohibited, dead wildlife washed up along the shores and many people’s pets died simply from coming too close, due to noxious gases given off by the blooms. While algae blooms have been a semi-regular part of life around the Loughshore for many years, in recent years local residents and environmental groups have been warning of a severe crisis on the horizon.
It was becoming apparent that this ancient lake, which has lived, breathed and supported all manner of life for millenia, had been brought to the brink of ruin in a few short centuries of capitalist exploitation. The problems it continues to face today are stark: an absentee landlord – a pampered aristocrat, – owns Lough Neagh; wealthy factory-farmers and agri-food corporations pollute at will and face little to no repercussions; Stormont’s horrendous ‘Going For Growth’ policy has skyrocketed the amount of waste entering our waterways; and our sewage infrastructure company, NI Water, dumps millions of tonnes of sewage into the catchment each year.
“We burnt and destroyed along the lough, even within four miles of Dungannon, where we killed man, woman, child, horse, beast, and whatsoever we found.”
So wrote Arthur Chichester, who claimed Lough Neagh and its shores as colonial plunder in the early 17th century, following the expulsion and supplantation of the Gaelic ruling class. The toxic algae blooms are the latest physical manifestation of decades of exploitation, corruption and mismanagement of the Lough by the most powerful in our society.
Rebel: What are some of the main political and economic factors that have contributed to this crisis at Lough Neagh?
PÓC: The causes of the ecocide are myriad and intersecting, a combination of “capitalism, colonialism and crap” to quote campaigner John Barry. However the major contributing factor is an excess of nitrogen and phosphorus in the Lough Neagh catchment area, both of which serve as fuel for the proliferation of the algae blooms in a process known as hyper-eutrophication.
First and foremost, the highest concentration of excess nutrients entering the catchment are delivered through agricultural waste – primarily through slurry dumping and the discharge of wastewater carrying animal feces and chemical products. Stormont’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) released damning statistics showing that 62% excess nutrients come from agricultural sources.
The epitome of the problem with our agricultural model and the rampant pollution it produces is Moy Park, an agri-food corporation which mass produces poultry products for sale overseas. They have been in the headlines recently having declared truly obscene profits, a 276% increase in 2024, with a turnover now exceeding two billion pounds. All the while, they have treated our environment as a personal sewer, having over five hundred reported cases of pollution incidents which have gone entirely unpunished.
Another problematic dynamic is that Moy Park is owned by JBS – an infamous, extractivist multinational with a bloody history in South America, deforesting the Amazon and waging war against indigenous peoples. They set up operations here because of the relatively cheap labour, to exploit our workforce in one of the most deprived areas of western Europe. All the value that’s created, all the profits generated, they don’t go into our communities – they go abroad, into tax havens and into offshore accounts.
While Moy Park keeps animals caged in horrendous conditions, while they work their employees to the bone for low pay, and while they contribute towards the crisis at Lough Neagh through their trade effluent, this is par for the course for the way multinational corporations exploit both people and planet under capitalism.
Another major source of excess nutrients contributing to the crisis at Lough Neagh is NI Water, the semi-state company responsible for maintaining our sewer network and supplying our drinking water. Upwards of 20 million tonnes of untreated human waste enter the Lough’s catchment per annum as our sewers cannot cope with the volume our population produces. NI Water has been chronically underfunded by successive administrations at Stormont, leaving our creaking sewer network in dire need of both repair and expansion — the end result of decades of cuts and austerity.
Muddying the waters and preventing meaningful strides towards resolving the issues with the Lough is its ownership model, specifically the private ownership of the banks and lake-bed by an English aristocrat — The 12th Earl of Shaftesbury. His ownership – “a business like any other” to quote him directly – facilitates the dredging of more than one million tonnes of Lough Neagh’s finite glacial sand deposits every year. The process leaves behind permanent scars 20 metres deep and decimates wildlife habitats, leading to dead zones where nothing can live. For every tonne extracted, a royalty is paid to Shaftesbury – a stark reminder of the colonial legacy we still grapple with in the North today.
Of course, the ever-present backdrop exacerbating the entire situation is the rising water temperature as a result of climate change.
Rebel: The Save Lough Neagh campaign has been one of the most prominent ecological campaigns in Ireland of recent years. Tell us about the origins of Save Lough Neagh and some of your main objectives.
PÓC: In the autumn of 2023, following a frantic period of public meetings and protests, the Save Lough Neagh campaign was born out of a collective desire to heighten the level of struggle among the various groups agitating on the issue. People Before Profit activists facilitated a meeting between environmental groups (such as Friends of the Earth, Eco-Justice Ireland and Save Our Shores), fishermen, trade unionists, academics and community activists to plan a march through Belfast and a protest.
We agreed a series of collective demands to tackle the rampant pollution and profiteering, informed both by the concerns of marginalised Loughshore communities and academic consensus. These are:
- An end to the private ownership of Lough Neagh
- The creation of an independent Environmental Protection Agency, with real power to hold polluters properly accountable.
- Urgent investment in a research and recovery plan, including a just transition for workers in extractive industries
- An end to commercial sand dredging, and a massive reduction in both agricultural run-off and sewage dumping
- Securing ‘Rights of Nature’ status for Lough Neagh
Under the Save Lough Neagh banner, we have since waged a multi-faceted campaign against Stormont’s negligence and inaction on the ecocide. We hold an ongoing series of protests around the shores of Lough Neagh titled “The Loughshore Stands Up” which gives a platform to local people and Lough users. We have held marches and demonstrations across the North, including at Moy Park, Belfast City Hall and Stormont – with diverse panels reflective of our constituent groups and allies. We organised a 6 week art exhibition titled Nature’s Revolt, exploring the connection between art and resistance – with contributions from artists around the shores based on their relationship with the Lough. We had excursions on the Lough with local fishermen to hear first hand how the crisis is decimating communities, and we compelled the Environment Minister to meet with our activists in order to put across our campaign demands and win concessions.
In all, the campaign has been broad, encompassing many groups and individuals of various political and social backgrounds, united on a common program and able to mobilise our collective strength to champion the survival of Lough Neagh.
Rebel: How would you measure the campaign’s successes so far?
PÓC: While truly tackling the systemic failings which have led to this crisis would necessitate radical change from a presently obstinate Stormont establishment, campaigners can take heart from smaller victories.
Shaftesbury has now conceded to handing back the Lough for free – his previous price-tag of £8-12m confined to the dustbin of history following a targeted people-power campaign. The challenge now will be ensuring he follows through on this promise, while advocating for transparency and democratic input throughout the process of the exchange.
Similarly, Andrew Muir, the Environment Minister, has been forced into several high-profile concessions due to public pressure. His department has vowed to increase fines that repeat polluters would receive, promising to undo a cap introduced by his predecessor Edwin Poots – a demand which our activists repeatedly called for.
Most significantly, Muir has conceded defeat on Stormont’s ‘Going For Growth’ policy, which was signed off by his party, Alliance, alongside Sinn Féin, DUP, SDLP and UUP. Going For Growth saw exponential growth for the agri-food sector, but with catastrophic consequences for our environment. Again, this provides a space for campaigners to hold his feet to the fire and ensure that policy decisions follow to undo some of the harm wrought.
Possibly the most significant success to date has been the ability of our campaigners to deliver an anti-capitalist analysis of the crisis into Loughshore communities, our agitation drawing attention to the class dynamics underpinning the whole situation. Nowhere is it easier to demonstrate the exploitation of capitalism than in locations where there is a visibly dying ecosystem while factory-farms generate staggering profits.
The threat to Lough Neagh and the life it supports is still severe, but the inroads that the campaign has made will provide a platform to continue waging struggle against the ruling class, the extractivists and the facilitators within our political establishment.
Rebel: Finally, what are some of the key political insights you think activists reading this should take from the Save Lough Neagh campaign?
PÓC: The SLN campaign is a shining example of how our environmental activism must be anti-capitalist and it must be anti-colonial, as the destruction of Lough Neagh is irretrievably tangled up in global systems of wealth extraction and domination.
The system that caused this ecocide in Lough Neagh is the same system that has thousands of people living on the streets with nowhere to call home, it’s the same system that extracts wealth from the global south leaving lives and ecosystems decimated, it’s the same system that has reduced Gaza to rubble, and it’s the same system that is leading our planet to climate collapse and ruin.
We can combat the ecocides, the extractivism, the profiteering by fighting in our communities for system change. Not simply fighting against local pollution, but against the very system that gives rise to crises like these all over the world.
Over a century ago, Rosa Luxembourg once said that we face a choice between “socialism or barbarism.” We now face a similar choice, “eco-socialism or extinction”.
