On Tuesday in Stormont, Sinn Féin once again faced the question of what to put first: Lough Neagh or the farming lobby. This time, for the first time, it chose Lough Neagh.

The question was asked by the SDLP opposition, in a motion expressing “regret at the misguided support” for a previous motion in June. In that June motion, the DUP had called on Andrew Muir, the Alliance agriculture and environment minister, to scrap his proposals to reduce water pollution, known as the Nutrients Action Plan (NAP).

Sinn Féin and the UUP backed this call, meaning three of the four executive parties ganged up on a minister in the assembly. NAP is a long-running statutory programme. Muir’s proposals, while ambitious, were a scheduled update he had put out to consultation.

The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) demanded the consultation, let alone the proposals, be scrapped – it appears the industry body expected to be “pre-consulted”. Most parties did the UFU’s bidding, as usual.

Then summer arrived, with an algal bloom worse than ever. Lough Neagh’s eel fishery was........

© The Irish Times