Considering the poisoning of Lough Neagh hit the world’s headlines in 2023, you would assume that by now the pollution would be decreasing.

Yet from NI Water to intensive farming to septic tanks, the pollution in Lough Neagh has increased.

Let that sink in. And also let it sink in that none of the existing plans, or future plans, have measurable timelines and targets to reduce pollution.

We need answers to basic questions, such as when will the phosphorus be reduced and by what means?

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We are bearing witness to a dying lough becoming a dead lough.

With much less public attention, we are also witnessing the permanent removal of the the lough’s habitat by the mining industry, turning a living bed into concrete and cement.

For years the industry thrived because it was protected by the regulators. It was allowed to become the biggest unauthorised example of ‘blind-eye’ planning in the history of this island.

Historically, the industry fought inside and outside the courts to avoid regulation. Court documents show they operated for decades in the knowledge that mining was unlawful. When the Court of Appeal ruled in 2017 that there should be enforcement against unlawful mining, they simply continued to extract.

With most extractive industries the impacts are uniquely harmful because the damage is cumulative and irreversible. The ecological impact multiplies as more is extracted from a diminishing, finite resource.

Yet it seems there’s no end in sight. The Shaftesbury Estate has stated that there is a contract with the mining industry that cannot be rescinded until 2046 (surely all contracts have get-out clauses?).

It’s hard to see how the lough’s food chain can recover from this intense pressure. The underwater sand banks that are being suction dredged are the refuges for spawning fish, a food source for diving birds and where the keystone species, the Lough Neagh fly, spends the majority of its life cycle.

The sandy bed is not a barren Sahara but the living foundation of our most special place.

Despite numerous designations, the authorities have failed to protect the lough from being hollowed out. In this deregulated sacrifice zone, government accepts as gospel the research supporting a limited planning approval. Research that is paid for by the mining companies themselves.

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The precautionary principle for Lough Neagh was upheld by the courts, meaning that for a highly complex and sensitive habitat, the companies have to prove there is no harm, reversing the burden of proof.

Yet we still have profound gaps in our knowledge. We still don’t know what the impact of the barge movements and dredging is on the mobilisation of sediments and the dispersal of phosphorus.

Nor has there been an assessment of the climate emissions from the production of concrete or the transport of products around the lough and overseas. The government has still not told us what a circular economy means – how we should be recycling more aggregate and looking at more sustainable means of construction?

In the meantime, the concrete armada sails the lough, mining the buried treasure from a living habitat while still seeking to expand their operations.

The ‘business as usual’ mentality is failing the lough.

In contrast, there are rich seams of hope emerging: community models of ownership, new nature rights for the ecosystem, a citizen’s assembly – all of this underscored by public outcries of love and care. These wider conversations do not see the lough as a commodity to be traded but as a friend.

A friend that would reward us forever if only we gave her a breathing space from the abuse we are inflicting.

James Orr is regional director of Friends of the Earth.

© The Irish News