To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs for an update on proposals to enhance bathing waters following the recent consultation on his Department’s policy review.

Mr Muir

I am committed to ensuring that Northern Ireland's bathing waters framework remains fit for purpose and reflects how people use our rivers, lakes and coastal waters today. Protecting public health and improving water quality remain central to my intent. Northern Ireland continues to enjoy high-quality bathing waters, with the vast majority of identified bathing waters achieving either an "excellent" or "good" classification in recent years. To build on that success, my Department recently completed a public consultation on the bathing waters policy review.

The review has considered a range of proposals designed to modernise the current framework, including improving public information and health messaging, reviewing bathing water identification arrangements, considering a more risk-based approach to monitoring, strengthening arrangements for poorly performing bathing waters, extending the bathing season and ensuring that the framework reflects modern patterns of recreational water use.

At the same time, participation in recreational water activities has continued to evolve, and it is important that the policy framework keeps pace with those changes. The consultation closed on 21 August 2026, and my officials are analysing the responses and assessing all relevant implications. This is an opportunity to modernise the bathing water programme for generations to come, safeguarding the health of bathers and those who participate in recreational water activities. That work will complement the wider measures that are being taken by my Department to improve water quality across Northern Ireland. I will make final decisions on the future direction of bathing water policy by the end of November 2026.

Mr Muir

I would be delighted to do that. What is more, I will give you a challenge. I am happy to do that down in your constituency, and, if we can go for a dip as part of that, I would be delighted to take up the offer.

Mr Martin

I hope that the Minister is not going to offer that to those of us in our constituency. Minister, in your answer to a previous question, you said that your Department is collecting out-of-season data to inform whether bathing waters are safe. In Ards and North Down, as you might be aware, there are 231 storm overflows, of which 94 have event duration monitors (EDMs). How can the public have confidence that those waters are safe to swim in on the basis of a relatively small number of bathing water samples and given the fact that, in some areas, no live EDM data is being collected?

Mr Muir

The Member will be aware that, in our constituency, we have a number of designated bathing areas, including Helen's Bay and Crawfordsburn. I invite him to join me at Helen's Bay on Christmas Eve. I am sure that you will step up to that —

Mr Martin

It is not going to happen.

Mr Muir

— and support charity as well. I accept that — [Interruption.]

I am aware that people have a concern about what is in the outfall in those areas. We need to have more EDMs and more real-time monitoring and reporting of those. It is a key part of our waste water regulatory reform programme to see those EDMs rolled out more broadly by NI Water and to have that near-real-time reporting. That is one of the key issues. We hope to make further announcements around that in the time ahead. It is reliant upon NI Water's installing the equipment and working with us on the provision of data. I am very clear that people deserve to have that data so that they know when it is safe to bathe.