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Northern Ireland currently comes under the UK's environment watchdog, the Office for Environmental Protection. It has already carried out a number of investigations in Northern Ireland and published several reports. But the assembly was told the lack of independent environmental oversight had led to "substantial" costs. "The cost of remediation of the Mobuoy site could be between £100m and £700m," the minister said. "The cost that we're spending this year in relation to the crisis at Lough Neagh as my department is over £17m and I could continue. "So the business case of this is very clear."
