Debate contribution: Hydrogen Innovation Strategy

Debate contribution by Mr Gary Middleton on 25 March 2025.

MLA

Mr Gary Middleton

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

25 March 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Hydrogen Innovation Strategy

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4866465

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I thank all the Members who spoke for their contributions. The motion has produced a very positive debate, and I thank my colleague Mr Buckley for moving it. There were quite a number of common themes in each of the contributions. Many Members, including me, want to celebrate the businesses in Northern Ireland that are already innovating and leading the way with hydrogen and are grasping the opportunities that exist from the move towards that type of technology and infrastructure. There was also a clear thread on the focus on skills, the need for apprenticeships and the need to ensure that we have the skills as we progress in the use of hydrogen across Northern Ireland. A hydrogen strategy is vital to securing and developing Northern Ireland's place as an innovator in this field. We want to see the opportunities being grasped and progression across Northern Ireland to ensure that we have further growth, further job creation and the ability to deliver on a global scale. As has been mentioned by a number of Members, we have a unique ability to produce green hydrogen. Yesterday, we had a positive debate in the Chamber about green growth. There was general consensus in that debate that green growth needs to be done in a way that is just and fair and protects consumers and businesses. My colleague Mr Buckley mentioned that onshore wind in Northern Ireland provides more than 80% of our renewable capacity. Of course, we need to exploit that further and make use of that energy when our demand is lower, but we also have the potential to become a global centre of excellence for the hydrogen economy. The foundation for that already exists through our local manufacturers of hydrogen-fuelled vehicles, such as Wrightbus, and those companies that produce hydrogen fuel and provide reliable storage facilities for it. I will move on to summarise some of the contributions. My colleague Mr Buckley opened the debate by talking about the proactive steps that are required to grow the sector. The strategy should be built on what we already have. He spoke passionately about working in collaboration with the UK and the ROI and globally. He went on to outline a number of key pillars that, we believe, a strategy should consider and to highlight the benefits that that would have for consumers and give examples, including the work that is going on at Wrightbus. Emma Sheerin talked about being supportive of the motion and of the need for investment in this growing sector. She spoke of storm Éowyn, the evidence of global warming and the need to move away from fossil fuels. Mr Honeyford talked about success having come in spite of the Assembly's being here. I somewhat disagree with that: the Assembly has shown leadership on these issues, not least through my colleagues Minister Dodds and Minister Lyons, as they were at the time, and, indeed, the current Minister's work on the 10X Economy strategy and through partnerships at council level and at Westminster. Mr Honeyford went on to say that business leaders should be congratulated for creating jobs in the sector: I completely agree. He also talked about dual market access. Diana Armstrong spoke about the importance of not being left behind when it comes to hydrogen. She spoke about what a company in her constituency — Mannok — is doing to utilise hydrogen effectively and about the interest that Joe Kennedy showed when he visited that company's premises. Sinéad McLaughlin spoke of it being critical that we explore every opportunity for transition to green energy. She spoke of green hydrogen as being just one part of energy transition and of the need to look beyond it. She feels that there is a need for any hydrogen strategy that is produced to be evidence-based: something that we should all agree on. Kellie Armstrong spoke about the domestic market in Northern Ireland, the capacity of different systems to heat our homes and the potential to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Kellie also touched on the prioritisation of skills and apprenticeships. Dr Steve Aiken spoke about our not being ambitious enough and about the potential to tap into GB Energy and the National Wealth Fund, looking at the Irish Sea as a potential zero-emission zone for shipping. He urged the Minister to speak with her counterparts in the UK Government to try to progress those matters. Timothy Gaston spoke about Ballymena being in a good place to be the hydrogen hub of Northern Ireland. I should have mentioned that my colleague Ms McLaughlin mentioned the north-west having a role in that as well. I think that we will all want to see our constituency seeing the benefits of hydrogen. Mr Gaston also spoke passionately about Wrightbus being ahead of the curve in Northern Ireland and about a lot of the work that is going on at local government level through Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, including the work that it does through the hydrogen training academy. Some exciting work is going on there. Finally, the Minister spoke about work going on in the Department and Invest NI and about the need to develop further opportunities. She spoke positively about local businesses. That is our motion. I think that the debate was positive. I hope that we can now get on and seize plans to further grow that exciting sector.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:08 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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