Debate contribution: British-Irish Council: 42nd Summit

Debate contribution by Mrs Emma Little-Pengelly on 28 January 2025.

MLA

Mrs Emma Little-Pengelly

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

28 January 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Ministerial Statements

Heading

British-Irish Council: 42nd Summit

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4763589

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I wish to make a statement on the 42nd summit of the British-Irish Council (BIC), which took place on 6 December 2024. Hosted by the Scottish Government at the Dalmahoy Hotel in Edinburgh, the summit marked the 25th anniversary of the Council's first meeting, which took place in London in December 1999. Heads of delegation were welcomed by the Scottish Government's First Minister, John Swinney. The First Minister and I attended the summit along with the Minister for the Economy and the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. The Ministers have agreed that I make the statement on their behalf. The UK Government delegation was led by the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer; the Irish Government delegation was led by the Taoiseach, Simon Harris; and the Welsh Government delegation was led by the First Minister, Eluned Morgan. The Government of Guernsey were represented by the Chief Minister, Deputy Lyndon Trott; the Government of Jersey by the Chief Minister, Deputy Lyndon Farnham; and the Isle of Man Government by the Chief Minister, Deputy Alfred Cannan. A full list of the principal delegates who attended is attached to the statement, which has been provided to Members. The theme of the summit was financing a just transition, and prior to the plenary meeting, the Scottish Government delivered a presentation on the subject. Angus Macpherson, former Co-Chair of the former First Minister's Investor Panel, provided an overview of the characteristics of investor-friendly destinations. That was followed by Deputy First Minister, Kate Forbes, who set out the Scottish Government's approach to attracting global capital investment. The plenary meeting commenced with a discussion about the initiatives that member Administrations are pursuing in order to ensure that communities are supported in the journey towards decarbonisation and net zero. The plenary meeting also considered efforts to reduce greenhouse gases in various sectors in a manner that is compatible with a just transition. The Council discussed the importance of working in collaboration with the private sector to encourage inward investment and increase employment opportunities in the renewable energy industry in order to stimulate economic growth and prosperity across our islands. The discussion provided us with the opportunity to highlight several initiatives that are taking place in our own Departments as we move to meet our net zero target and transition to becoming a clean, sustainable and affordable society. Those include work within Northern Ireland's Climate Change Act, our energy strategy, our green skills action plan, our renewable electricity support scheme, our net zero accelerator fund and the establishment of a just transition commission. We highlighted the importance of working closely with the business and farming communities in ensuring the success of the transition and the pivotal role that those communities will play in realising its full potential. We also reflected that fairness is at the core of a process and that we must provide confidence and clarity around how we will move to net zero in a fair and balanced way. While the scale of the challenge may seem a daunting prospect for some, there is no doubt that it can present opportunities for our people, our businesses and communities. It also places a great responsibility on us in government to deliver a just energy transition, where the benefits are shared by all. Council members also briefed colleagues on significant developments in their own Administrations and reflected on a number of important domestic topics, including economic growth. The Council also discussed international topics of mutual interest. We took the opportunity to update the Council on the Executive's progress as we near the 1st anniversary of their restoration. We updated members on the development of our Programme for Government and highlighted the important work that is being taken forward under the Executive's ending violence against women and girls strategic framework. We expressed concern about our challenging fiscal situation and spoke of the vital need to transform our public services. We also welcomed the resetting of intergovernmental relations, following the Westminster election, and commended the contribution of the British-Irish Council in promoting positive relations across our islands. Finally, the Council noted that the next British-Irish Council summit will be hosted by the Northern Ireland Executive in June 2025.

I thank the Member for his question. He will be aware that there are a number of legal requirements and obligations on Ministers, and Ministers will endeavour to meet all those legal obligations. Of course, when any policy proposal is brought to the Executive Committee for discussion and agreement, it is right and proper that we scrutinise the detail of that proposal. We will have that discussion, and the desire is to get agreement and consensus on that.

Absolutely, and I thank the Member for that question. Collaboration is always of benefit, as is building those robust and resilient relationships, including with other jurisdictions. Not just in relation to this area but on many of the challenges that we face, it makes sense to have those discussions and hear about what is happening and what is working elsewhere. If it is convenient and appropriate to do so, we should take some of that learning and apply it in Northern Ireland. That is the quickest way to get solutions that actually work. In relation to this particular issue, we emphasised in our contributions that it is important that we do not get into the space of competition in some of the areas in which we are developing and investing.

Collaboration, as opposed to everybody trying to do the same thing and competing in the same space, makes sense. It is a huge emerging area. There are, undoubtedly, opportunities for businesses in green growth, but we should do it in a collaborative, complementary and supplementary way with our closest neighbours.

Yes, reform is absolutely key. We cannot continue to do things as we are doing them, or we will get the same outcomes. We know that, throughout Northern Ireland and across the Chamber, there is a desire to improve outcomes and the things that we do to ensure that we meet the needs of the people of Northern Ireland through better rolled-out and transformed public services. Transformation is key. I think that every jurisdiction is looking at the issue. We must do things better in order to achieve the outcomes that we want to achieve.

I thank the Member for his question. The Member will be more than aware that these institutions, the mechanisms within them and the key principles of consensus and cross-community consensus were all in the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, an agreement signed up to by a number of parties and endorsed by the people of Northern Ireland and the people of the Republic of Ireland. It has been said repeatedly that the Alliance Party seeks to change the mechanisms that were so consulted on, endorsed and signed up to: that is a matter for a different place. In this statement today, we are focusing on one of the institutions of those agreements — the British-Irish Council — and on the important issues of transformation of public services and green growth.

I thank the Member for her question. The Member will be aware that this work is led by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs; indeed, the AERA Minister has brought forward a number of key documents. Many are cross-cutting and significant, which is why they are matters for Executive consideration and agreement. It is important that all Ministers are involved in that process. The focus of this summit was on a just transition. That is incredibly important, because I think that, at times, people out there feel that that is an agenda that does not necessarily connect to them and will, potentially, increase costs for businesses and consumers. The key thing about the summit was the focus on what is just and balanced. I emphasised at the summit the importance of ensuring that we bring the people with us on this in terms of pace, cost and the impact on public services. Whatever we do in trying to achieve that worthy objective must be done in collaboration with farmers, businesses, the economic generators that are so important to our economy and, indeed, our public services and infrastructure to make sure that we can still do what we need to do in an affordable way.

I thank the Member for his important question. Our farming and business communities are the backbone of Northern Ireland's economy. I pay tribute to all those who work so hard day in, day out to hold up our economy and provide employment and many other essential things. I also pay tribute to all those who were out working throughout the period of difficult weather. Farmers do not get the luxury of staying at home and staying safe. They are out every day in every type of weather to provide the food and produce that not only feed Northern Ireland but make the sector a net contributor to the rest of the United Kingdom. The Member is absolutely right: as we move forward with this agenda, it is critical that we do so in collaboration with farmers, recognising that there ought not to be a disproportionate burden on those who are trying their best and playing such a pivotal role in our food security and our economy.

I thank the Member for her question. A number of questions and issues have been raised around that proposal. Establishing a Climate Commissioner is a legal requirement on the Executive Office, but I am sure that, in the Member's role as Chair of the Committee, she will be aware of the challenges that we have faced because of the drafting of that legislation. It is not without its problems. We have outlined the problems, but we are trying to move forward as best we can within the limitations. The current legislation is not adequate for us to do what we need to do in order to have a fully functioning Climate Commissioner's office, but we are working through that with our lawyers to see what we can do within the parameters of what was drafted and passed by this place.

I thank the Member for his question. The British-Irish Council currently covers 10 work sectors: transport; housing; energy; early years; environment; indigenous, minority and lesser-used languages; drugs and alcohol; planning and places; social inclusion; and creative industries. The summit is reasonably flexible with its agendas. The last few summits have focused on a wide range of issues relating to green growth and the just transition. At the moment, we are discussing what our summit should look at. A number of key challenges face not just us in Northern Ireland and across the United Kingdom but these isles. Some of those issues have been touched on in the Chamber this morning, including transformation of our public services; tackling high waiting lists, which are not unique to us; transformation in the health service; providing affordable childcare; tackling poverty; and trying to achieve economic growth. There is a wide range of issues that we could choose to focus on in our summit. It is good that we have a body that has the flexibility to discuss emerging issues, as it has done over the past 25 years.

I thank the Member for his question and for raising the important issue of opportunities that are presented to us that may not yet have been taken up or have not been taken up and rolled out at the speed that we would wish to see. He is absolutely right. When I listen to people talk about our public services and about transformation, what they say always seems to be prefaced with a hunger or desire by some outside this place to push a significant additional cost on to the citizens of Northern Ireland. I say clearly that, before we contemplate doing that, we must look at every Department and agency to see what opportunities exist to maximise spend and to tackle inefficiency or waste. We need to look at what we can do better with the money that we already have before we have the audacity to say to the ordinary working people of Northern Ireland, "Pay us even more money so that we can take it and not use it in the way in which we ought to be using it". That is a challenge to all our Executive members. I say strongly that the Executive will not simply take what I see as the easy route of heaping additional bills on the ordinary working families of Northern Ireland. We will look first at the funds that we have, how we spend them and how we can get greater efficiency and do more with what we have.

It is such an important issue. In the first couple of days, around this time last year, the First Minister and I set out clearly that tackling it was key for us. Each death is an absolute tragedy and should have been avoided. We will do everything that we can through the strategy and implementation plan that we have delivered to ensure that everything possible is being done to tackle the scourge of violence against women and girls. We recognise, however, that we cannot do that alone: the Government cannot do it alone, and the Department cannot do it alone. We must work with partners in the community, in schools and in councils. That is why the schemes were rolled out to councils and why some of the funding from them will go to community groups that work directly with those women and girls. They know best what needs to be done to tackle that scourge. It is also important that we send out a clear message that violence against women and girls is absolutely unacceptable. We are appalled by the level of it in Northern Ireland and are determined to do everything that we can to reduce and eliminate it.

I thank the Member for her question. Yes, I will. Work on the preparations for the British-Irish Council summit in Northern Ireland in June 2025 continues. It is a really good opportunity for us to pick the issue that we want to discuss at it, which, in my view, should be connected to our Programme for Government and should be an issue on which we can have genuinely good engagement on what we need to do, what learning we can take away and what collaborations we can continue to have that will benefit the people of Northern Ireland. A huge amount of preparation goes into such events. It is a good opportunity for us to showcase Northern Ireland and what we do here and to showcase the food and other produce of Northern Ireland, as well as our wonderful scenery. We are working on all those issues and hope, shortly, to be able to make some announcements about what the focus will be on and about other aspects of the summit.

We are working on the investment strategy for Northern Ireland (ISNI). That is where the focus on capital investment will be. The Programme for Government deals with priorities, and the investment strategy will sit alongside it. Taking a longer-term approach is key to capital investment, because, sadly, such projects take a significant amount of time. Public-sector capital projects take a terribly long time.

Due to the length of time that they take, we see the initial projected costs rising. We see problems arising with the roll-out of some of those projects because it tends to take place over many years. We are looking at that situation through the Strategic Investment Board (SIB), with a real focus on how we improve it. Very few jurisdictions do public-sector capital programmes well. However, everybody is striving to do them better. That economic growth is so important in what we need to do to support our public services and our private sector. The Member is absolutely right. It is a specialist area. We will, of course, continue to talk to experts in that field about what we need to do. There will probably also be lessons learned about the resilience of the network following the storm that we saw last weekend. Work will continue on that. It has also been flagged as an important issue for grid security. Hopefully, we will be able to update the Member on that very shortly.

I thank the Member for his question. He may not be aware of this, but the statement was on the British-Irish Council summit. That is entirely different from the Intertrade UK structure and, indeed, the many structures to enhance collaboration that we have throughout the United Kingdom and beyond. All those structures are important, because greater and wider collaboration across this United Kingdom is important. As a unionist, that is my priority, but it is also key for Northern Ireland. We are a small place, and we should be listening to and learning from elsewhere, taking what we can to ensure that we can roll that out with our public services. Speaking in a personal capacity, Intertrade UK was very much a proposal of my party, the DUP. We are pleased that the UK Government accepted that proposal and are moving forward with it. Would we like it to be moving forward faster? Of course we would. We welcome the fact that a chairperson has been appointed and understand that we are to have further discussions shortly with the UK Government on the setting up of the body. I have emphasised, in this role, through a number of the bodies that we sit on — the inter-ministerial councils and the UK-wide bodies — the importance of having Intertrade UK, because we know that there are many businesses in Great Britain that do not understand the current set of systems and are pre-emptively withdrawing from the Northern Ireland market when there is no need to do so. It is critical that companies know that they can send their goods to Northern Ireland, that Northern Ireland is open for business and that those consumer lines are still protected to ensure that we have consumer choice in Northern Ireland. Intertrade UK will play a pivotal and good role in that. The UK Government need to step up and get on with establishing it so that it can fully engage in its work.

3,062 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:52 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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