SDLP Opposition spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), Daniel McCrossan MLA, has urged the Minister to clarify how he intends to deliver an independent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Mr McCrossan was speaking after the DUP voted against an SDLP Opposition Day motion calling on parties in the Northern Ireland Executive to support the establishment of an independent EPA.

The West Tyrone MLA questioned how the Minister planned to advance the proposals in the face of the DUP's opposition, warning of mounting environmental challenges across the north.

Mr McCrossan said: "The SDLP Opposition has been clear that we want to see an independent EPA established to regulate and protect our environment. We have already experienced far too much dither and delay, reviews that go nowhere and commitments that have not been delivered upon.

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"We brought forward our motion yesterday to urge the Executive to back the Minister’s long-awaited proposals for an independent EPA. The rejection of this motion from the DUP yesterday raises serious questions about how the Minister will now progress an EPA through the Executive. We cannot allow one party to hold our environment to ransom. 

"The desperate situation at Lough Neagh is just one of the many crises facing our environment. We are seeing our lakes and rivers polluted, our biodiversity destroyed and some of the most beautiful parts of our island being damaged irreparably. The Minister needs to outline how he’ll cut through this opposition and deliver the independent EPA our environment desperately needs."

The SDLP has repeatedly called for environmental regulation to be moved out of government departments and into an independent body, arguing this would deliver stronger oversight and better protection for natural habitats, waterways and wildlife.