Every imported question, contribution and motion, with its classification. Unflagged, uncertain and not-yet-analysed records are all included so the analysis can be checked independently.
I appreciate the Minister's giving way and thank Mr Frew for taking my job. I jest. I want to check two things, Minister. Last week, at Committee, I raised my concern about any possible delays to the creation and implementation of the terms and conditions. That was in relation to state aid rules and approval by the…
The short answer is yes. We have not yet determined what that should be, however. That is one of the elements of the Bill on which we intend to make further regulations, so there will be a further opportunity for consultation and to take on board the views of the public more widely on that. It is an important issue.
I thank the Member for his intervention. In relation to clause 12, no, I do not have a specified time, but I am happy for the Committee to go into that in more detail. In relation to community benefit at clause 13, it is my intention that households will receive the financial benefit of hosting the infrastructure. It…
I thank the Minister for giving way. She mentioned clause 13, which is about community benefit. Clause 12 is about payments to electricity suppliers. Clause 12(3) states: "The Department may by regulations make provision that imposes, on an electricity supplier who receives a payment from the counterparty, a…
I thank the Minister for giving way. I appreciate her giving her time. I understand that this is a priority for her. This is an important point, given that the Agriculture Minister is also present. You said that we need to make sure that things move more swiftly. I think that everybody agrees. One of the biggest…
Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I thank Members for their contributions to the debate. I have found them very helpful. I enjoyed hearing Members' reflections on the Bill and welcome the broad support for it. I thank Diana for her work on the Economy Committee and wish her well in her new role. I welcome…
I thank the Member for the intervention. That uncertainty needs to be addressed and, hopefully, the Minister can bring some insight and clarification. I see the opportunity around ROCs in the future as an opportunity for growth. There are people with expertise and knowledge about what they are doing who are already in…
The Member raises a critical point. Look at it the other way: some of those generators may gain an advantage in a contract-for-difference auction because of the very fact that they get a ROC. We will have to be mindful of that. Of course, the bigger the scale, the more the ROC and the more advantage they may then…
The Member is always very kind with his time. He is right in what he says. Does he agree that the propensity for judicial reviews here and, as he said, the fact that some planning decisions can take between five and nine years disincentivises businesses from outside the UK from investing in Northern Ireland, which…
On behalf of the SDLP, I welcome the Bill and support its progression to this stage in the House. Northern Ireland has an enormous economic opportunity before us. Renewable energy, as Members have said, should not simply be viewed in isolation through a prism of climate targets. It is also a huge and significant…
We are very lucky to have an energy nerd in the Alliance Party. I benefit greatly from my colleague David Honeyford's expertise in this, and it is good to know that he has company in other parties. Over the summer, I spent quite a bit of time trying to get up to the same stage as him. I met a number of renewable…
As a former member of the Economy Committee, I want to make an address before my colleague Mike Nesbitt joins the Committee for his inaugural meeting tomorrow. I welcome the Renewable Electricity Generation Bill as an important step towards placing Northern Ireland in a stronger position to generate renewable…
The Bill does not talk about the community or neighbours; it talks about "customers", and those customers could be anywhere in Northern Ireland. You could get a contract for difference, a payment and a benefit for having a plant, a wind farm or some other renewable energy base in a mountain range or valley in an area…
I appreciate the Member's point about the project being Department-led. Unfortunately, the lessons of the past show that the private sector has been 10 miles ahead of the Department on every move. It is worrying, on a competence issue, that the public's perception is that the Department for the Economy does not have…
I thank the Member for giving way. He makes a very interesting point. Does he agree with me that, in local council authorities and the Department, there seems to be a very clear lack of understanding of planning and of the complexities of some of those applications and that that is leading to some of the delays? There…
That is exactly my fear: that the contracts for difference and the auction will be open only to multinational companies with the big bucks and the scale, and that that will disadvantage our farmers and our people who want to diversify to get lower bills. Ultimately, it will cost them. The contracts for difference will…
I thank the Member for giving way. I am fascinated by his intellect regarding the subject. He has a passion for energy policy, as I do, and Steve Aiken also does, if he was in the Chamber. The Member talks about a benefit for local people. He will know that through the renewables obligation certificate (ROC) a lot of…
I make it clear from the outset that I support the Bill and that Alliance will support it today. I will take my time, though, and walk my way through this, because we have been calling for this for some time, and I just wish that we had been here about two years ago rather than standing here today. Ultimately, the…