Debate contribution: Harbours Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Mrs Sinéad Ennis on 23 June 2026.

MLA: Mrs Sinéad Ennis
Party at the time: Sinn Féin
Date: 23 June 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Executive Committee Business
Heading: Harbours Bill: Second Stage
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5636842

Text

First, I thank the Minister for her work in progressing the legislation and bringing it to the Chamber today. From what she has said and what we know about the Bill, it is clear that doing nothing about trust ports would severely impact their future operability. When we look at what the narrow Bill proposes to change, we see that, essentially, it will ensure that trust ports can compete with other ports across these islands and better contribute to the regional economy. Also, the fact that the Bill seeks to improve marine safety through updates similar to those that have been made in other jurisdictions cannot be lost. At present, we know that ports are restricted by the borrowing arrangements by which they must abide. That reality sees them borrowing from the Department, which is already in a very constrained capital budget position, as the Minister outlined. The provisions in the Bill will ensure that the accountability and oversight mechanisms provided by commissioners on the boards of ports or harbours will continue. That is an important scrutiny function in relation to the operation and management of ports. To be clear, Sinn Féin does not support free ports, but we support the measures in the Bill, which will ensure that the legislative and governance frameworks of commercial trust ports across the North are modernised and fit for purpose. The requirement on ports to reinvest their profits in the operation of their port and for the port's benefit has a positive impact on the economy. We only have to look at Belfast Harbour's master plan, which sets out the possible significant economic impact that that can have. That includes enabling a quarter of all island-wide seaborne trade, which, in turn, creates £8·8 billion in gross value added and equates to 15·7% of the North's total annual output. Significant job creation is also evident, with an estimated 155,000 jobs supported across the region and 20,000 people employed in the harbour estate. With the plan's prospect of additional housing, renewable energy and a boost to island-wide trade, we must ensure that we support trust ports to be more sustainable in the future. As an MLA whose constituency office is mere metres from Warrenpoint port, I recognise that ports can have benefits mainly for imports and exports but also for the all-island economy. Therefore, we must ensure that we support them in becoming able to compete with other ports across these islands. However, I cannot speak about the Harbours Bill without referencing the odour issue that affects my constituents in Warrenpoint. As the Minister will be acutely aware, the community in Warrenpoint has been, and continues to be, badly impacted by the commercial decisions taken by Warrenpoint Harbour Authority and ReGen to store putrid household waste at the port. That is entirely unacceptable for those who live nearby, and I am committed to resolving it. The people in Warrenpoint are right to expect to be able to live in their homes without being subjected to persistent and unpleasant smells. Their concerns are genuine, and they deserve action. If I thought for one second that the Bill could be used as a vehicle for ending the misery that is being inflicted on my community by ReGen and Warrenpoint Harbour Authority, the Minister and I would be the first to ensure that it was. The people whom I represent want real solutions, and they want the agencies and Departments that are responsible to do their jobs. They want an end to the misery. Minister, you and I have been lobbied in recent days on that. We need to be honest in the Chamber about where responsibility and authority sit and what the Bill can and, perhaps more importantly, cannot do. We have been dealing with this issue for three years. Warrenpoint Harbour Authority operates as a commercial entity, and the Department for Infrastructure currently does not have the power to direct or control its day-to-day commercial operations. That fundamental point needs to be understood, and it cannot simply be wished away. Minister, you and I have been lobbied on the possibility of amending the Bill, so it is fair to ask you to address, in your response to the debate, the competency of those suggested amendments. We need clarity on the suggestion that the Infrastructure Minister either has, or should now take on, powers that do not currently exist. We should be very cautious about creating a misleading narrative, particularly when it risks raising false expectations among residents in Warrenpoint. Instead, the focus must be on whether the agencies that have responsibility, including the environmental regulators and enforcement bodies such as the NIEA and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, are doing enough and whether they have sufficient powers to tackle such issues effectively. My hope is that the Bill may open up more and greater economic and commercial opportunities for Warrenpoint port and allow the port to attract better tenants who do not cause a nuisance to the communities in which they are situated. I ask the Minister to clarify a number of important points. I ask her to set out clearly, for the record, what powers the Department has in relation to ports such as Warrenpoint. Can she confirm that those powers do not extend to directing commercial operations? Will she also spell out clearly what, if any, scope there is in the Bill to stop the storage of waste at Warrenpoint port? Can she outline which bodies are responsible for regulating issues such as odour and environmental nuisance, and what coordination is taking place to ensure that residents' complaints are acted on? We need the agencies that are responsible for protecting communities from odour and nuisance to do their job. As MLAs, we need to hold them to account, but we do not do that by misplacing responsibility. That issue needs to be resolved, and it must be done on the basis of fact and proper accountability. That said, Minister, Sinn Féin will support the Bill at Second Stage.

1,007 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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