Debate contribution: Ban Petroleum Licensing and Fracking
Debate contribution by Mr David Honeyford on .
- MLA
- Mr David Honeyford
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 29 April 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Ban Petroleum Licensing and Fracking
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4486597
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I speak as the Alliance spokesperson for the economy. Alliance will support the motion and all bans on fracking, petroleum licensing, drilling and extraction. I said recently in the Chamber that we live on a beautiful island in the Atlantic Ocean and have a wealth of renewable energy opportunities and resources at our fingertips. In the future, we should have next to no need for fossil fuels, so now is finally the time to introduce a ban to reassure those local communities that are affected. As our entire means of power generation continue to positively evolve, Alliance wants to see the transition completely away from fossil fuels and faster movement towards a fairer, greener society that is powered by renewable energy. We need to invest in the diversity of all our renewable sources, and Alliance believes that we must work on that in partnership across the island, taking a shared-island approach in order to develop the scale and energy security that are required. It is also important to continue to develop a system that is connected to Scotland, Wales, France and on into mainland Europe. We need to address three issues in order to allow us to move at a faster pace and enable the development of renewables. The first is energy security and storage. Energy storage of fossil fuels is all around us, whether it is oil tanks for our homes, petrol or diesel tanks in our cars and lorries, storage tanks at petrol stations or at docks or ports, as has been said. We must quickly address renewable storage, such as how to store additional wind energy for use on days when it is less windy. The second issue, which is a major problem and which is causing delay in the transition to renewable energy, is a completely outdated planning system. Everywhere I go — I speak to people across the industry — planning delays are raised as the number-one priority. The Minister for Infrastructure needs to address that urgently. We cannot imagine any of our emergency services being called to an emergency but having to sit in traffic, yet we are in a climate emergency, so delivery should not be delayed by being stuck in a planning system. Again and again, we are seeing investment that should and could have been made here moving South.
The Minister for Infrastructure has to get a grip on the issue quickly and reform the planning system to deliver planning decisions in a much shorter time. I am not saying that there should not be consultations; I am saying that we need to have a much easier and simpler process that delivers results. This must be treated as an emergency, and the reform and updating of our planning system must happen straight away.
I will make a final point about the overall design of our energy system. Traditionally, we have had three centres of generation here. With the introduction of renewable energy, generation has spread across the region. There needs to be a lead, in the design of the system, on how we work towards our renewable energy goal. If you start to build a house, you follow an architect's designs, drawings and plans. They show you where you are going and give you the platform from which to deliver. It is not a shotgun approach, and it is not a case of saying, "We'll put this here, do that there and hope for the best". Our new energy system needs the same approach: an overall design that brings together all the moving parts from access to the grid to geography to helping to address the planning issues. Areas of need could be targeted, giving a clear understanding of what is needed in particular areas. Most importantly, that approach would allow our renewables industry to get on and deliver, reducing the need for fossil fuels much faster. We live in an exciting time — an era of change — and Alliance wants to see action, rather than words, on delivering renewable energy transformation.
672 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.03 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.93).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.03 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.93 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.90 |
| Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty | 0.09 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:20 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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