Debate contribution: Energy, Food and Environmental Security: Biomethane

Debate contribution by Mr John Blair on 20 April 2026.

MLA: Mr John Blair
Party at the time: Alliance Party
Date: 20 April 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Private Members' Business
Heading: Energy, Food and Environmental Security: Biomethane
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5494195

Text

I am pleased to speak as Alliance AERA spokesperson to support the motion on clean biomethane for Northern Ireland's energy, food and environmental security. I welcome the motion, especially following the backward-looking motion from the DUP, last week, on climate. That motion sought to cling to climate denial, but this motion looks ahead to how Northern Ireland can secure our energy future, support our farmers, protect our natural environment and build real resilience into our economy. The motion states:
"Northern Ireland produces significant volumes of slurry, poultry litter and food waste".
Whilst we have treated much of that as a problem to be managed, we need to see it as a resource to be harnessed. Therefore, Alliance sees that Northern Ireland lacks a clear cross-departmental strategy to bridge the gap between where we are and where we need to be on biomethane and anaerobic digestion. However, any strategy must be adequately funded and must help farmers meet their environmental obligations in a practical and realistic way. It must be grounded in scientific evidence and shaped by innovation, not by short-term thinking. The AERA Minister has always been open to new and innovative ideas that are guided by scientific evidence. That is why the Minister has supported research on anaerobic digestion through the small business research initiative on the sustainable utilisation of livestock slurry. As with any developing method, the research and evidence must be there to ensure that it can deliver and that it is sustainable and economically viable. Successful bidding companies for that project have been awarded £4 million over three years to help Northern Ireland's agriculture sector reduce excess phosphorus from livestock slurry as part of the Lough Neagh action plan. When visiting an AD plant near Dundonald, not far from here, Minister Muir described it as a "significant milestone" in delivery. He also noticed its potential to radically change the way in which nutrients are managed by the farming community, provide a sustainable future for our agri-food sector and offer an excellent example of green growth in action through emissions reductions, environmental improvements and green job opportunities. That is exactly the kind of practical science-led innovation that we should be backing in the Assembly. That work is already producing tangible progress. To date, the farm-to-export project has reportedly removed more than 10,000 tons of organic solids from farms, reducing the need for imported feed and nitrogen fertiliser and producing more than 6 GWh of renewable gas. However, this is not just about energy and economics; it is fundamentally about protecting our environment and honouring our climate commitments. Northern Ireland has already seen far too clearly what happens when we ignore our natural environmental limits. The crisis at Lough Neagh is a well-known example in my constituency of South Antrim of what happens when we fail to manage nutrients properly, when we fail to protect our waterways and when we allow short-term thinking to trump long-term sustainability. Of course, the motion is also, in some respects, aspirational in nature. That is not intended to be a criticism of the motion. The workload and resources required to develop such a strategy would fall on Departments that are already under severe pressure. Resource and budgetary constraints are real and ever-present, and we hear about them here daily. Executive support will also be required, as will effective interdepartmental working, which we all know has too often proved challenging to achieve. A more sustainable and resilient Northern Ireland is within our reach if we choose to grasp it. That means trusting the evidence, backing the businesses and organisations with the expertise to deliver, and creating the policy framework that allows innovation to flourish rather than stifling it. Therefore, I thank the Ulster Unionist Party for bringing the important motion to the House today. I support its call for action on biomethane and anaerobic digestion as a strategy for Northern Ireland.

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

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