Speeches by Hanna.

“Looking at the Commission’s proposals and the Q&A on their website, it looks like there is a massive advantage for Northern Ireland in how they propose to treat the region on that. Is that not something the Government should be shouting about? Are we sometimes victim of how proposals are being read in other parts of th…”

“What does the application of the EU steel safeguards mean for Northern Ireland?”

“Lord Murphy’s report talked about how little is made of dual market access. Do you think there are more opportunities to promote the differential and positive impact of our dual market access?”

“But I presume that the feedback that Lord Murphy captured, the views he encountered and the suggestions he made will frame your future engagement with the EU more widely.”

“Minister Thomas-Symonds, what do you hope to achieve from discussions with the EU about the report? Will you come back to this Committee after that?”

“You will be raising the recommendations in the report with the Joint Committee. When do you think that will happen?”

“To be honest, the first year or two was probably a fairly slow period for the production of legislation, because of the European elections and the reforming of the Commission, so they probably haven’t seen anything yet.”

“Yes, within the bounds of the allocated funding that you have—and we are getting into how you are trying to deal with a problem without the resource. Do you have any sense of a plan from Northern Ireland Water or the Minister to address the wider funding issues, and to solve the problem that we have with this environme…”

“Very much so, but the issue is that we do not have multiple five-year periods. I suppose it is a political question, and it is unfair to put it on you. On this, house building and all sorts of other issues, day in and day out, we are at a crisis. We are waiting for an investment strategy from the Executive and for this…”

“Last year, your CEO said that there was no point in prosecuting Northern Ireland Water for environmental failures. I suppose the sense was that it did not have either the ability or the resources to address them. Do you understand whether there will be any new mechanisms or approaches coming to enforcement on Northern …”

“Is NI Water preparing for that, and does it feel that it will be able to make the necessary changes?”

“This is not your fault, but we are in one of those big circular flow charts here.”

“Minister, you have regularly spoken about the funding gap and the need to support farmers. The SDLP Opposition have proposed a levy to try to use the very substantial profit that we know is being made by corporations involved in agriculture in and around the lough. You will be aware of a similar voluntary levy on agric…”

“The £7 million would be a start.”

“Others, and possibly you, Minister, have spoken about some of the challenges of one Department being responsible for both agriculture, with its obvious importance to our economy, and environmental protection. Many, including me and you, have spoken about the need for an independent environmental protection agency to we…”

“I am sorry. The Chair is giving me the evil eye about the time. We have been discussing this for two decades. There has been a series of reviews, panels and assessments. There is consensus that we need an independent environmental protection agency. That is something I think you support as well. What is the likelihood …”

“Will we have one in place by the end of the mandate?”

“I have one last question, perhaps to you, Alistair, about the review of sand extraction. It was discussed earlier. Gerry Darby from the Lough Neagh Partnership was talking about the environmental impact, which is probably less than has sometimes been foregrounded. There is obviously now a regulation in place. There had…”

“Thank you very much to all of you. William, in the Lough Neagh action plan, DAERA estimates that 62% of the phosphorus pollution comes from agricultural sources. Is that your understanding?”

“You would not dispute that intensification of farming over that period—I think they said since 2012, but over the last decade—has reversed some of the water quality improvements.”