claim: Only the Green Party supported a proposal to establish an environmental protection agency (EPA), as part of the review of public administration (local government) in Northern Ireland.
evidence: During the Review of Public Administration (June 2002-March 2006), three political parties — Alliance, Green Party, and the SDLP — pledged support for an independent environmental protection agency. In the subsequent Review of Environmental Governance in Northern Ireland (February 2006-May 2007), Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionist Party also expressed support. On 25 January 2020, published in the Irish News, Newton Emerson stated: "All Stormont parties except the Greens rejected an EPA when it was proposed a decade ago under the last major review of public administration." This claim may be related to a similar claim made in the Green Party manifesto for the elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2003: "(None of the political parties in the current Assembly has called for an independent Environmental Protection Agency for Northern Ireland as part of the reform of public administration)." [...] During the Review of Public Administration (June 2002-March 2006), three political parties — Alliance, Green Party, and the SDLP — pledged support for an independent environmental protection agency in their manifestos for the 2003 elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. Subsequently, during the Review of Environmental Governance in Northern Ireland (February 2006-May 2007), five political parties — Alliance, Green Party, SDLP, Sinn Féin, and the UUP — are known to have supported an independent EPA in Northern Ireland.