The Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Andrew Muir MLA has officially launched his Lough Neagh Report and Action Plan at Ballyronan Marina.

The event, hosted by Lough Neagh Partnership, gave the Minister an opportunity to engage around the table with local stakeholders.

These included representatives from Northern Ireland Environment Link; The Rivers Trust; Ulster Farmers Union; Northern Ireland Agricultural Producers Association (NIAPA); community representative May Devlin of Traad, Ballyronan and Ballinderry Development Association (TABBDA); and Gary McErlain, Chair of the Lough Neagh Partnership.

Afterwards, Gerry Darby, Strategic Manager of Lough Neagh Partnership, expressed "great satisfaction” that the meeting of stakeholders had been successful.

Speaking about Minister Muir officially launching his report at Ballyronan, Mr Darby said: “I’m well aware that as the Minister himself has asserted, there is no quick fix to the issues surrounding Lough Neagh. However we are pleased that Minister Muir brought the official launch of his Lough Neagh Report and Action Plan to Ballyronan.

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"The Lough Neagh Partnership remains committed to finding solutions to the challenges faced by Lough Neagh for the benefit of the whole community and will collaborate with Minister Muir, his department and local stakeholders to implement this plan.”

“We left the meeting with Minister Muir encouraged by the positivity of all of us around the table and everyone involved in developing and launching this plan. It’s great to have a plan and a guide that we can use to start addressing the problems. There were productive discussions between farming and environmental representatives at the launch and we have all agreed to work together in the short and long term to achieve real change. Change will only come through collaboration and sustained effort over the next five to ten years and we all have a responsibility to make it happen.”