Debate contribution: Storm Resilience and Infrastructure Preparedness

Debate contribution by Mr Phillip Brett on 20 October 2025.

MLA

Mr Phillip Brett

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

20 October 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Storm Resilience and Infrastructure Preparedness

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5188911

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move the following amendment:

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I am pleased to propose the amendment in my name and that of my colleagues. I will give some context for why we tabled the amendment. It relates to the importance of ensuring energy security and security of supply. Mr Deputy Speaker, from the way in which some Ministers handled the issue, you may not have known that, less than two to three weeks ago, Northern Ireland was just days away from a blackout. The context for that related to our three power plants. As you may be aware, Mr Deputy Speaker, Ballylumford power station was damaged in the recent storm Éowyn and, as a result, has been offline. Coolkeeragh, one of our other power plants, has been down for maintenance. That resulted in Kilroot power station approaching the point of running out of its permitted hours to provide electricity to Northern Ireland. We required two emergency Executive meetings and a written statement provided by the Minister for the Economy to address the issue. EP UK Investments (EPUKI), which owns the Kilroot power plant, is now involved in a court action against the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA). That is the first time that that situation has been outlined and articulated to the House, which is a shame. It took the work of my colleagues on the Economy Committee to interrogate the Department for the Economy and the Utility Regulator in order to find that out. Members across these Benches should have been informed by both the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs and the Department for the Economy that we were only hours away from a blackout in Northern Ireland. The reason why that situation was not articulated to Members was that it does not suit the narrative of the current climate change targets. It is clear that the current climate change targets, which were set in place by the previous Assembly, are not achievable and are undermining our energy security of supply. We look forward with anticipation to the report that will be produced by the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) tomorrow in relation to our journey to net —.

Happily.

I was just about to go on to that point, Ms Dillon. We have a moral duty to tackle climate change, but that should not be at the expense of being hours away from my constituents — and yours, Ms Dillon — being in a power blackout. We heard the proposer of the motion speak about the importance of ensuring that our schools receive timely notifications. If our schools do not have electricity, they will not receive those notifications. If our hospitals do not receive the power that they need, a result of the storms, Ms Dillon, will be that people will be placed in huge and real danger. That is why the House needs to take serious action and look at the consequences of the energy figures that we are trying to meet. As I made clear in a debate in the House two weeks ago, the Members who were proposing our climate change targets could not even tell us the current rate of our renewable electricity targets, because they are more interested in climate change extremism than in the reality before us. We need leadership on the issue, and that will not be found in the Minister for the Economy or the AERA Minister. It needs to be taken forward by the First Minister and deputy First Minister. Our amendment calls for the First Minister and deputy First Minister to prioritise above all else energy security and security of supply to the people of Northern Ireland. The duty of any Government is to protect their citizens and ensure the safety of those who live in Northern Ireland. There can be no greater requirement on government than to ensure security of energy supply. Thankfully, the previous crisis, which could have engulfed Northern Ireland, was avoided, but it could be repeated or come back, should Kilroot power station win its court case against the Department of Agriculture. We need strong leadership from the First Minister and deputy First Minister to look again at the targets that have been set by the previous Assembly. It is clear that we will not reach the 2030 targets, and we need to stop kidding the public and ourselves that we will. Today is an opportunity for the House to commit to energy security and supply and to ensure that the focus of the Executive is on providing basic services, not on trying to reach unreachable targets.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:35 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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