Sand dredging is killing Lough Neagh. First-of-its-kind research linked commercial sand dredging of Lough Neagh to the toxic blue-green algae blooms, habitat destruction and more. This kind of mining causes irreversible damage to the Loughs' precious ecosystem. Meanwhile, dredging and construction companies are profiting from Lough Neagh’s destruction.  And the Earl of Shaftesbury - owner of the Lough’s bed and banks - earns a royalty fee for every tonne of sand the companies extract. When the SDLP minister ignored environmentalists and legalised dredging in 2020, they argued that legalising would be benecifial, however recent news has shown gross violations far beyond limits. The more these companies mine Lough Neagh for sand, the more this damage multiplies, and with the Shaftesbury Estate having a contract with the mining industry up until 2046, this could go on for decades more.  Stormont has acted on mining before. Earlier this year, it passed legislation banning filthy fracking - only because of relentless pressure from people and grassroots group. We call on Infrastructure Minister to ban sand dredging today. Demands for an independent enquiry into the effects of sand dredging have been ignored. Studies have identified deep scars, including 17 metre cavities and long-term disruption to sediment systems, which can release stored nutrients, potentially exacerbating algal blooms. We reiterate our campaign demands for a moratorium on extraction of our finite glacial sand in Lough Neagh. 🚨 Join the March for Lough Neagh, Sunday May 17th, 12:30pm, The Battery Bar to Ardboe High Cross!! 🚨 And join the Film Festival & Conference in Lurgan the weekend beforehand saveloughneagh.com

Moy Park, the North's first £2 billion company , is making record profits while poisoning our precious waterways that feed into Lough Neagh. Nutrient pollution from industrial factory farming is  one of the main causes of the blue-green algae suffocating Lough Neagh. In 2024 the Save Lough Neagh campaign held a protest against Moy Park’s sponsorship on the Antrim loughshore. BBC Spotlight uncovered hundreds of pollution incidents from Moy Park, and how little punishment they received. The company has a history exploiting workers, such as underpaying minimum wage workers, and even scandals over a worker’s death. The Lough supplies most of the city's drinking water - big agricultural corporations, such as Moy Park, are putting our right to water at risk.  This is greenwashing at its very worst - using the Belfast Marathon, and the tens of thousands of people who run and cheer on their loved ones from across the city, to distract from their brutal business practices.   Follow the Save Lough Neagh campaign on: https://instagram.com/saveloughneagh https://www.facebook.com/saveloughneagh We, the undersigned, call on you and the organisers of Belfast City Marathon to drop Moy Park as a sponsor of Belfast City Marathon and Half-marathon today.  

Last October, Derry & Strabane District Council approved planning for one data centre, with three more already having outline permission. While data centres power much of our online world, they also come with huge environmental costs. While still in the early stages, the expansion of data centres here in NI will place immense strain on both electricity and water resources. Data centres are energy-intensive and also require vast amounts of cooling, consuming either millions of litres of water or huge amounts of electricity to keep them cool. Massive corporations like Amazon, Google and Facebook are behind many of the data centres being built - dumping a vast amounts of useless data in these centres while draining local energy and water sources. What's more, as more and more data centres are built, there is a real risk that we will be unable meet to our legally-binding emissions target under the Climate Change Act 2022. Not only that, we are deeply concerned that large scale wind farms will be fast tracked and built on Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs), damaging those protected areas in order to keep up with the electricity demands of these centres. We demand an immediate review of the planning and approval processes for data centre developments in Northern Ireland and a comprehensive public consultation before they expand further. https://www.savethemoat.com/blog-post

Trust and confidence in leadership is essential for the reassurance of any community and many constituents have been looking forward in general terms to the new Minister’s  delivery on the Sinn Fein 2024 election manifesto, “Strong Leadership, Positive Change”.  In the Warrenpoint area, residents and businesses look forward specifically to leadership towards a solution within an area of Infrastructure responsibility to the waste stench and odour nuisance which dates back to a Council abatement notice going back almost ten years to  2015. Positive change would be greatly welcomed here. Recent confusion around the chemicals used by Re-Gen Waste in what appears to be a losing battle in negating the impact of their organic waste stench in Warrenpoint Port has led to claims and counter-claims by WHA and Re-Gen Waste as to which chemicals have been used. Their lack of agreement has resulted in the withdrawal of an Environmental Audit from the WHA website at the end of October and, in the three and a half months since then, no clarification has been forthcoming from the two bodies forming crucial cogs in the infrastructure of the NI Waste Industry.  That confusion has been escalated by WHA claims that HSENI had made a specific review into those chemicals, a position which has been categorically undermined by HSENI. Stakeholders can have no confidence and no trust in the running of the Trust Port in Warrenpoint by the  Warrenpoint Harbour Authority Board until WHA has replaced their withdrawn Environmental Audit on their website and also fully explained the answers received by a Warrenpoint resident from HSENI as follows :   QUESTIONS TO HSENI Can you please provide me the following: 1. Copies of all emails relating to the statement made by Mr Holmes especially the email of how you informed Mr Holmes of the results of the “specific review” on the Chemicals used by Re-Gen. 2. Copies of any evidence that you hold that supports the claim Mr Holmes has made relating to your organisation. HSENI RESPONSE : A search has been carried out on HSENI’s electronic and paper records based on the parameters of your request. I can confirm that HSENI holds no information in relation to your request. In response to question 1, requesting copies of all emails relating to the statement made by Mr Holmes especially the email of how you informed Mr Holmes of the results of the specific review on the Chemical's used by Re-Gen. I can confirm that HSENI holds no information in relation to this question. In response to question 2, requesting copies of any evidence that you hold that supports the claim Mr Holmes has made relating to your organisation. I can confirm that HSENI holds no information in relation to this question. In response to question 3, requesting copies of the information where Mr Holmes states that you have informed WHA not to modify any of its practices. I can confirm that HSENI holds no information in relation to this question.

The genocide in Gaza has been livestreamed to the world since October 7 2023. Conservative estimates put the number of people killed as approx. 68,000 (recent figures published by The Lancet) with over 100,000 maimed and injured. Every step of this genocide has been funded and supported by the United States. Our governments have paid lip service rather than take any meaningful action against Israel. The International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel is guilty of committing plausible genocide in Gaza. Israel has displayed intent in the words of its government officials, in its deliberate denial of humanitarian aid, food, preventing safe births to mention a few. In 2024 our petition to Boycott the White House St Patrick's Day Celebrations got more than 20,000 signatures. The pressure we put on politicians not to go resulted in several prominent politicians not going, as well as protests in Ireland and the US against the betrayal. This year we have an opportunity to build on this. Through constant lobbying and pressure, Ireland is now a party to the case South Africa is taking against Israel in the International Courts of Justice. People pressure also forced Israel to close its embassy in Ireland. We call on all political parties on the island of Ireland to listen to the people and not go to Washington on St. Patrick's Day to shake hands soaked with the blood of Palestinians. Petition endorsed by: Derry IPSC Mid Ulster IPSC Cairde Palestine Gaels Against Genocide Mothers Against Genocide QUB Palestine Assembly Artists Against Genocide Teachers for Palestine Fermoy IPSC D7 For Palestine Lurgan IPSC Minority teachers Ireland Louth IPSC The People of Clare Against Genocide BadAds  Hcworkers for Palestine Derry Anti-War Coalition Swords For Palestine United Against Racism NW BDS Strabane NYirish4palestine Newry IPSC South Kerry Friends Of Palestine East Derry IPSC Armagh IPSC ATU Friends of Palestine 

Filthy mining corporation Dalradian is fighting to be able to rip up our stunning Sperrin Mountains, pollute our waters, and damage our health - so they can get rich by mining for gold. After 50,000 written objections, over a decade of tireless campaigning and numerous legal interventions, Save Our Sperrins have taken their fight to a landmark public inquiry that will decide if the mine will go ahead. As Save Our Sperrins says: “The inquiry is a rare opportunity for all of us to come together and have our voices heard. Together, we can stand for what truly matters.” They’ve been fighting for years, and now we stand with them. No toxic mining in Sperrins!

The shore of Belfast Lough is special - lovely walks at low tide, seals, birds, the beach. It's a perfect place for people to enjoy, and to improve their physical and mental health, and appreciate our natural environment. Yet it's closed off. Access denied! NIWater and MEABC have the power to change that. So simply open the gate, and #ShareTheShore!

Dervilla, environmental campaigner says: "In the midst of a climate emergency there is evidence that the oil and gas industry is attempting once more to come in and put at risk the health and future of the public and the border regions. In 2014, then Energy Minister Arlene Foster issued an order which meant the licence to explore for shale gas in Fermanagh was terminated. We need her and her party to show that she will stand with us." Support the motion https://bit.ly/3nIw0ZC

Fracking and drilling pollutes our water, and damages our health. It is expected that the petroleum licencing policy that Minister Lyons will propose to the Executive could open the door for the approval of outstanding drilling and fracking applications in Fermanagh, and in the five council areas of Belfast, Antrim and Newtownabbey, Mid Ulster, Armagh City Banbridge and Craigavon, Lisburn and Castlereagh. There is no time for legislation to be passed on fracking and drilling in this Assembly term. It must be stopped at the Executive.

Consider this as a response to the current consultation on the Fermanagh and Omagh District Council Development Plan open until 14th September. Issue Ref: DPS/248/03 The communities in Fermanagh fought hard for the inclusion of the following in Fermanagh Omagh District Council's Local Development Plan: "The Council will not permit exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbon extraction until it is proved that there would be no adverse effects on the environment or public health" This has been changed to: "The Council will not permit exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbon extraction until there is sufficient and robust evidence on all associated impacts on the environment and human health." Please revert to the original wording which protects the communities of Fermanagh and it's surrounds from fracking.

The climate crisis means that government in NI should commit to keeping fossil fuels in the ground. In August last year, earthquakes from fracking in the UK were big enough to damage people's homes. Fossil fuel company Tamboran have an application to start fracking in Co Fermanagh sitting on Diane Dodds desk and if this gets the green light will cause devastation to local communities, nature, people's health and livelihoods. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-48191165

Consultancy firm Hatch Regeneris have been funded by the Department for the Economy to carry out a £65,000 piece of research on the economic, environmental and social impact of drilling for oil and gas here. They were awarded the contract one day after the Northern Ireland Assembly unanimously passed a motion for a halt on oil and gas drilling and development in Northern Ireland in October last year. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-54144919 http://aims.niassembly.gov.uk/officialreport/report.aspx?&eveDate=2020%2F10%2F13&docID=310908 Despite the overwhelming evidence on the negative public health impact of drilling and fracking, the research does not include consideration of public health in its terms of reference. Now the Councils in the areas currently under the PLA1/16 licence, many of whom passed motions against fracking and drilling, are currently not part of their stakeholder engagement. This means that the communities that will bear the social impact of drilling for oil will not be heard.