Debate contribution: Green Energy Transition

Debate contribution by Mr David Honeyford on 24 March 2025.

MLA

Mr David Honeyford

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

24 March 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Green Energy Transition

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4865252

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I have spoken many times in the Chamber on Alliance's position on renewables. As this is an SDLP mini-motion and time is limited, I will pick up on just a couple of issues. Alliance submitted its amendment in order to enhance the motion. Very simply, the "80 by 30" target cannot be achieved without the North/South interconnector. Unfortunately, EirGrid recently stated that the completion date for that has been pushed back to 2031. SONI estimates the cost to consumers in Northern Ireland of not having the North/South interconnector in place and in use to be £55,000 a day. That means that the cost to the person in the street is approximately £100 annually. The acceleration of the North/South interconnector is fundamental if we are to meet our targets. The motion is only words on a page if the North/South interconnector is not included in it. As it is not included in the DUP amendment and the amendments are mutually exclusive, we will oppose the DUP amendment. The Department is bringing forward a new renewable scheme. In its current form — or, what we have been briefed is its current form — the scheme will fail to deliver on our potential and will not accelerate our capacity to meet the "80 by 30" target either. Sinn Féin talks a lot about unity and a DUP motion tomorrow will focus on the United Kingdom. We have consistently said that Alliance will focus on the best outcomes for people and look at actions not words. We already have an all-island energy system. I question why a Sinn Féin Minister's Department is bringing forward legislation for a renewables scheme in Northern Ireland that will not be applied equally on an all-island basis. The creation of different entry-level conditions for investment will result in an investment border between Northern Ireland and the South. That will, effectively, create a barrier to and a restriction on investment in Northern Ireland and push further investment south. I have raised that matter so many times and I will continue to highlight it. Any new scheme must have an entry point that is equal to that in the South. We continue to see investment moving there: we need investment here and the entry point has to be the same. The experience in the South has shown that that difference will limit investment here by up to 50%. It is massively disappointing that the Department for the Economy has recently worked on a scheme that limits our potential and is using the prospect of further delays as a reason not to amend it. If that is the case, there must, as a bare minimum, be a commitment from the Minister for a lower rate in the second round of auction in 2027 that is equal to that in the South. Given the ridiculous amount of time that planning takes, which the motion highlights, that would at least give hope and long-term certainty to businesses and investors. I have been contacted directly by several companies, one of which is in my area, that are about to draw a line through Northern Ireland and put their investment into the South and Scotland. The SDLP motion states that ineffective planning policy is a significant barrier to renewables expansion. I completely agree with that. I agree with every word that has been said. Sinéad talked about leadership being missing and calls being ignored. The SDLP has repeated in the House that it is a serious Opposition, yet, with the support of Sinn Féin, it recently voted against renewables in Derry City and Strabane District Council, the very place that planning controls are upheld. The motion that the SDLP supported stated that the council "reaffirms its presumption against" wind farms and, therefore, against renewables. In front of the cameras in the Chamber, for everyone to see, the SDLP raises concerns about the rates of growth in renewables and what the Executive parties are doing about it, but it opposes it in the place where it is not in opposition and where it controls planning policy. I will give way to any SDLP Member who wants to explain how it is that they say one thing in here but something different in the place where the planning conditions are upheld.

I will give way.

An operational issue? Right, OK. Was the council team wrong, then? Either the council team was on a solo run and does not have a policy or the Assembly team is making one up on the hoof with the mini-motions that it tables here. We all want to see renewables being brought forward, but we have to get serious. The industry needs time and the confidence that we will deliver. I will leave it there.

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

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:13 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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