Debate contribution: British-Irish Council: Transport

Debate contribution by Ms Liz Kimmins on 3 June 2025.

MLA

Ms Liz Kimmins

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

3 June 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Ministerial Statement

Heading

British-Irish Council: Transport

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4985747

Read the official Assembly record

Text

As the Member will be aware, we hope to see the outcome of the feasibility study in the coming weeks. It was initially planned for the spring, but we were then told that it will be in the summer, so it should come fairly soon. I look forward to seeing the outcome of that. On the specifics of Fermanagh — I, too, note that there is a serious gap in the all-island strategic rail review — we are looking at how we can ensure that the transport plans focus on those areas. You will be aware of my recent announcement around funding community transport, which is a key element of providing proper public transport for people in more rural areas in particular. We are looking at a number of things, which will be incorporated in the bigger transport strategy and the local transport plans that officials are working on in conjunction with the councils.

We have been looking at that issue and trying to find solutions. It is becoming more of an issue. As I noted in the statement, more and more people are purchasing EVs, so it needs to be addressed to ensure that everybody has equitable access. There are now 672 publicly accessible commercial EV charge points here, which are operated by over 20 charge-point operators. Provision has grown by 73%.

We have work to do in the areas in which people do not have immediate access to those types of charge points. We continue to work to find a balance that will ensure that everyone can find a solution in the meantime.

I do not have the actual figures in front of me to see the comparisons, Peter, but we can get those. There are lots of things, some of which are around a culture shift and trying to encourage people to have the confidence to purchase an EV, but the cost must also be recognised. Those are parts of the discussion that we have been having across the Administrations about how we can ensure that anyone who hopes to make the transition from a petrol or diesel car to an EV can find it affordable and accessible to do so. We are working across Departments to see what good practice elsewhere is encouraging uptake in other areas and to see how we can further utilise that. We have also been looking at Motability. The importance of Motability to EV growth here in the new and second-hand car market cannot be overstated. The scheme is delivering new low- and zero-emission vehicles. That is helping to show people that they are working, and it gives them confidence to purchase those vehicles. As the number of purchases goes up, we are moving into a second-hand EV market, which means that they are more accessible for lots of people. The infrastructure piece is key to a lot of this, because that is an issue for many people: it is a barrier for many people if they cannot get access to charging infrastructure. As I have said, there are almost 700 publicly accessible charging points. It is about building on that and ensuring that it is made easy for people to access charging points, be that at their home or as part of their journey, no matter where they are going. We are working on that on an all-island basis, because we know that people frequently commute and travel across our island. We are also looking at what is happening across the water and at how the benefits could be transferred to here.

The Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Fiona Hyslop, and I had discussed the matter. There is ongoing work on recognising the importance of those roads in ensuring the streamlining of that transport and on recognising the importance of our freight industry from an Irish perspective and from across the water. I recognise some of the challenges that are faced in Britain, particularly from the Scottish perspective. There are ongoing discussions on that.

We await the outcome of that feasibility study, as we do for the other feasibility studies. I hope to provide further information on that very soon. We visited Belfast City Airport recently, and that issue was discussed as part of that engagement. I am keen to see the outcome of the study and to see what we can do in the time ahead.

We have significant rural areas across the North, so it is not just because of the meeting that I am keen to address the issue. I said earlier that community transport is a very important part of that work. We need to ensure that the community transport sector receives the funding that it needs to deliver the services that it provides. Those services are absolutely crucial to the people who use them. It is also about ensuring that other people have access to them. That is ongoing work. We recently had the community transport review. We talked about the transport strategy and the transport plans, which are integral to ensuring that rural communities have connectivity and equitable access to public transport. There are individual plans, but the wider strategy is being looked at in conjunction with the Council to see how we can address the issues. We are also looking at best practice from elsewhere. We are looking in particular at what our Irish counterparts in Dublin are doing, given the rural populations that we all serve. We are looking at lots of things in conjunction, but we already have a good handle on what the issues are here and what we can do to address them.

We are looking at all those aspects. I mentioned HGVs and the ports. As I said, there is work being done to simplify the process for those affected. Some of the sectors are probably ahead of us on a lot of that stuff. It is about a managed transition that does not put an unnecessary burden on the sectors involved. Cross-departmental working between us and our counterparts, probably mainly those in Scotland and Wales, will be required for us to meet the targets contained in the Climate Change Act 2022. That is probably in its earlier stages, Steve, but it is on our agenda as something on which we will work closely in the time ahead.

It was discussed in the bilateral meetings that we had with Simon Lightwood on how we can further enhance the work that is already happening. We have been engaging directly with the British Minister and Department to see how we can further enhance the work that we are doing and how we can identify other opportunities to utilise the funding from the Union connectivity review. We have seen some of it fund the really good work on the feasibility studies that we are awaiting. That is an ongoing piece. The Union connectivity review may not have been specifically discussed as part of the plenary meeting, but such discussions happen between Ministers regularly.

1,162 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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