Debate contribution: North/South Ministerial Council: Trade and Business Development
Debate contribution by Miss Deirdre Hargey on .
- MLA
- Miss Deirdre Hargey
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 20 May 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Ministerial Statement
- Heading
- North/South Ministerial Council: Trade and Business Development
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4490607
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Thanks very much for the question. There were discussions on the circular economy, looking at sustainability, which is of strategic importance to InterTradeIreland. Looking forward, following the progress of planned research on offshore wind and green hydrogen, there was discussion on what more can be done around that. Officials in both jurisdictions are engaging on the research and looking at opportunities with the circular economy, which I touched on, and they will continue to collaborate on that. Sustainability is a cross-cutting theme in several of InterTradeIreland's programmes and areas, and, looking at its central policy and research priorities going forward, we want to see a greater focus on partnership working and stakeholder engagement in the time ahead. Those were the broad areas of discussion at the last meeting.
InterTradeIreland has a range of programmes such as the 'Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition', which has a €20,000 low-carbon green award recognising the importance of supporting high-potential sustainability start-ups. There is an 'Innovation Boost' fund, which funds a project manager and academic partner to implement 12- or 18-month innovation projects. Those include sustainability projects and sustainability-related process improvements. There is sustainability in specific areas within the 'Business Explorer' programme, with energy-efficiency requirements and carbon zero and digitisation plans among its priorities. In 2023, a pilot supply chain programme looked at the possibility of impact substitution, nearshoring and on-island supply chain resilience activities. As part of the 2024 research programme, InterTradeIreland will continue to commission research into sustainability. The first of that is planned for offshore wind and green hydrogen.
Work is ongoing on developing the resource and the plans. Once we have finalised them by way of spending prioritisation and have completed that stage of the assessment, I will write to you with more detail.
292 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not qualifying”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.02 (qualifying needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not qualifying).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-qualifying 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 | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.01 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.38 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.02 | At or below not-qualifying 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 | 1.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
| Sport (including the GAA), the arts and cultural bodies | 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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