Debate contribution: The Hops Certification (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024: Prayer of Annulment

Debate contribution by Mr Declan McAleer on 14 October 2024.

MLA

Mr Declan McAleer

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

14 October 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Committee Business

Heading

The Hops Certification (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024: Prayer of Annulment

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4590176

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the motion. First, I will make a winding-up speech, and then I will make some comments on behalf of Sinn Féin. At the beginning of the debate, Robbie Butler, in his first foray into the Chamber as the Chair of the Committee — I welcome him to the role — pointed out that new regulations came into effect on 24 March. They were applied under annex 2 of the Windsor framework, were passed by negative resolution and came into operation on 18 October. He said that the Committee had already had two oral briefings on the regulations. Michelle McIlveen highlighted the fact that it was a protocol-related matter. She was not happy with it being a stringent requirement for imports from Britain to Northern Ireland. She recognised the limited practical impact. However, the DUP does not support regulations that may cause divergence of the North from Britain. John Blair also highlighted the fact that the Committee had been fully briefed. He pointed out that it was a purely technical matter, that there are no hop growers here and there were no responses to the eight-week consultation. He also highlighted the prospect of "tridivergence" between Britain, the North and the EU and the risk of EU infraction. He also made the point that it was the outworking of Brexit and that we must do our best to protect our growers.

Yes, of course.

I thank the Member for his intervention. No, nothing whatever. In fact, it would be hugely detrimental to growers here. Whilst we do not have hop farms here, we have hobbyist growers. If we vote for the prayer of annulment, we risk creating divergence not just from the EU but from Britain. Mr Gaston of the TUV made the point that no one grows hops here and said that we should be subject to UK not EU rules. He said that it was a dry run for the vote in December. The last Member to speak was the Minister. Again, he said that they are EU regulations on the import of hops and are embedded in annex 2 of the Windsor framework. He said that the public consultation carried out between 7 May and 2 July gained no responses. He said that the legislation was a simple update of the EU rules to make positive technical changes, particularly on the digitisation of certification. The Minister warned that, if we do not pass the legislation, there will be an impact on consumer confidence, a risk of lower-standard hops in the local market and a risk of EU infractions. We do not want to end up in a situation where there are no regulations, meaning that growers here would not be able to have their hops certified and we would be the only part of these regions in that situation. It is important that we facilitate international trade.

I will speak briefly on behalf of Sinn Féin. The hops certification regulations are a routine part of business. They refer to fairly minor and largely technical updates to existing legislation that will keep us in line with Britain and the EU on this niche issue. We know that it is niche, because, after the Department put out the consultation, it received no responses because there are no hop growers here. Failure to update the regulations will see the Department not fulfil its obligations under the withdrawal agreement, risk reputational damage internationally and, possibly, even be subject to EU infringement proceedings. Furthermore, it will make the importation of hops for private hobbyist growers more difficult, with the lack of certification meaning that they could get lower-quality hops that do not meet safety standards. In addition, if somebody ever wants to start a commercial hop-growing business here, as we have seen happen in other parts of Ireland — for example, there is a successful hop farm in the Wicklow mountains — it will make it more difficult for them to do so. In short, refusing to allow the updated regulations to come into force would provide no benefit to any person or business anywhere in the North. It would make a hobby that many people here enjoy more difficult, less safe and, in all likelihood, more expensive. It would deter the creation of potential future businesses and risk reputational damage to the Department as well as potential EU infringement proceedings. Blocking the updated regulations would create real and immediate diversions in Britain and the EU.

749 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:21 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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