Clare Bailey
South Belfast · Green Party · Northern Ireland
“It is a great relief to finally be able to move my Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Bill at Final Stage. When I was first elected, I pledged to the people of South Belfast that I would work hard on equality issues, for human rights-compliant legislation and, particularly, for women. Today is the last sitting day of the mandate.”
“Yet, despite "Stay at home" messaging and regulations to prevent public gatherings, the concerted campaign of harassment and intimidation against women and staff continued unabated, and all authorities — the Health Department, the Department of Justice, the PSNI — claimed that they could do nothing to stop it.”
“The efficacy of the Bill is achieved without being unnecessarily heavy-handed or putting significant additional pressures on any criminal justice system. I hope that we can move on from those debates. <BR /> <BR />This is absolutely a landmark moment for the Assembly. I have seen many Bills passed today that I am incredibly proud of.”
“I thank the Member for that. It is worth noting that, comparatively, this Bill takes a light touch in respect of offences being committed, because the punishment for breaching safe access zones around the world, in almost all cases where they are operational, can result in imprisonment and wildly higher fines than what is being proposed i…”
“I am also aware that the Minister, who, Mr Butler, is your party colleague, has also confirmed that he will produce a policy paper setting out how his Department intends to implement the requirements for safe access zones, including guidance to operators of health and social care premises.”
“None of that is what I have experienced with abortion services. <BR /> <BR />I went out to consultation on the Bill in 2017, just as the Executive was collapsing yet again, and the three-year hiatus meant that I could not progress the Bill any further.”
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“The Bill has been drafted with a very heavy focus on achieving a balance between competing rights and freedoms under the Human Rights Act 1998: the freedom of thought, conscience and religion under article 9 and the freedom of assembly and association under article 11. Both those rights are provided with limitations. Those limitations are stipulated as:”
“I have been working to produce the Bill since I was first elected back in 2016, and I am glad to have it debated today in the House. <BR /> <BR />I am also very well aware that there are many different views in the House on reproductive rights generally and abortion specifically, but I ask that Members do not distract themselves with their views on those issues and instead focus on what the Bill seeks to achieve, which is simply safe access to healthcare provision for all people and all staff. The Bill does not seek to remove anyone's right to protest, nor would I ever support such attempts under any circumstances.”
“Another young woman, who was alone in the city, was filmed and threatened that the footage would be uploaded and broadcast on social media. They also threatened to report the scenes to the police. <BR /> <BR />The protests cause such distress to people and have unintended consequences on other building and premises users: staff, clients and anybody else who is trying to gain access. Every woman of childbearing age is targeted. Staff do not feel that they can carry out their duties safely; they are also recorded, threatened and intimidated. We are hearing now from health and social care trust staff that they have had to employ extra security personnel, put reinforced windows in premises, use blackouts on glass and install CCTV cameras.”
“Thank you. First, if possible, I reassure Members that the Bill is by no means a rushed response to the escalation of protests that we are seeing at hospitals, clinics and family-planning centres across Northern Ireland. It is a response to what I witnessed and experienced during my time as a volunteer at the Marie Stopes clinic in Belfast city centre. What I learned during that time was that the gatherings are not protests, at least, they are not protests as I understand them. What is happening on our streets is a very deliberate campaign of harassment and intimidation against women. During my time there, I was spat at and assaulted, I had holy water splashed on me and I was verbally abused. I saw one young woman who was so distressed that she ran into four lanes of oncoming traffic to try to escape the protesters.”
“I support the motion. I would like to see the rapid development of an urgently needed strategy whereby we can not just sustain and maintain the sector but allow it to thrive.”
“The arts provide us with safe places to explore shared cultural spaces and to understand who we are as a people and as individuals, our many identities, our history and our future. They create safe places for all people to explore that at a local level. If we do not understand the value of the arts at a local level, we do not understand their critical nature to working-class people, who are often excluded from larger, more established and more understood arts venues, places and spaces.”
“<BR /> <BR />We are all constituency MLAs, so as well as understanding the value of the arts, we have to begin to understand the value and impact of local events and all the local work that goes on at a real grassroots level, and we have to work hard to try to embed those. It goes beyond a Programme for Government. The arts really do fit so many of those outcomes. Others said that, so I do not want to go over all that again. However, I implore Members to push for a long-term strategy that is a long-term solution to what is a critical problem now. <BR /> <BR />The arts can really challenge and help us to understand ourselves as a society and as individuals. If we cannot understand where the arts fit with us, as a progressive society or a progressing society, we need to scratch our heads and go into that a wee bit more.”
“Yes, I remember your face being there, Mike, as well as a few others. The sector did that to tell us directly about the impact that the cuts were going to have, and I am delighted that, as that played out, the effective campaigning at the time led to the decision on cuts being reversed. <BR /> <BR />While many good points have been made, I remain pretty alarmed that so many still hold such a narrow definition of what arts are. It is right that we acknowledge the large and established venues, which are very important, but they will have little importance if we do not invest in the very people who will fill them and make them the dynamic centres that they are.”
“My daughter recently graduated from what I still refer to as our art college, but it is, of course, now the Ulster University. She had so little opportunity to find any work or get herself embedded in the sector that she moved elsewhere. On the other hand, my brother has found so much work in some of the new productions here that he struggles to stand still. <BR /> <BR />Our arts sector has always been on its knees and was on its knees long before COVID. It was not COVID that broke the sector, and it is not COVID that is creating the call for a long-term strategy. I remember the in-year funding cuts being levied upon the sector as far back as 2015, if my memory is correct. At that time, it was great to see the sector come together. It really rallied and had events that filled the Long Gallery to capacity.”
“It is great to hear so many speaking in support of the motion and acknowledging the lack of value we have shown the sector. That is exactly what has led to the ongoing disgraceful and stressful situation that the sector continually finds itself in. <BR /> <BR />I speak as the chair of the all-party group on arts. Everyone is welcome to attend our meetings. The notification for the next one will go out very soon, so I hope to see a lot more new faces there. Thanks to the small number of you who have attended to date. <BR /> <BR />My first year after leaving school was spent studying drama, and that not only included learning about performing arts but was heavily based on technical skills in those arts, such as stage-setting skills, recording, performing the role of sound technician and everything that goes along with that.”
“Minister, I, first, declare an interest as a board member of Informing Choices NI. I do not want to go into the specifics, but you mentioned that it put in a funding request of £83,000. You commented that BPAS will now provide the service at no cost, which is a wee bit misleading because it is a cost. Although it may not be at a cost to your Department, it is at a cost to BPAS, which is a charity. That, of course, is on top of the cost to the Women and Equalities Committee at Westminster, which is covering the costs for women from Northern Ireland who continue to be forced to travel to access treatment and care in England. Have you or your Department made any assessment of the costs that others are picking up for services that the Northern Ireland Executive are failing to deliver?”
“It is a sad reflection on the UK Government and Prime Minister Boris Johnson that they advise British businesses, cheesemakers in particular, to set up their businesses in Europe, rather than allowing and advising them to come to Northern Ireland to access European markets. Even the Prime Minister will not sell the benefits of our position in Northern Ireland, and that is disgraceful indeed. We urgently need to work towards solutions to the mess that is Brexit for us in Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />The Green Party supports the motion but not the amendment. Speaking to those at the grassroots, we found that they feel that the amendment brings further confusion rather than clarity.”
“Work needs to be done now to create the necessary infrastructure to implement customs and SPS checks under the protocol. The AERA Minister need not obstruct that work any further. More than anything, however, our businesses and retailers need clarity, and they are crying out for a workable way forward, not more political intransigence and mess. <BR /> <BR />The protocol is a bespoke agreement between the EU and the UK that aims to navigate the differing SPS standards, and, undoubtedly, further agreement is needed. It is a sad reflection on our power in this situation that the most that we can do is pass a motion, call out the decision-makers and ask the UK Government and the EU to listen to us.”
“I will repeat the word "petrol": the recent fuel crisis in GB that did not affect us is just one example.”
“<BR /> <BR />Brexit and its fallout happened to Northern Ireland without our consent. It has been an EU and a UK Government process. The most that we can do is raise our concerns in the hope that somebody will listen. The current negotiated bespoke solution to differing SPS standards across the UK and the EU is the protocol. We know that the EU and the UK view it differently. For effectiveness and workability, its burden remains. It was never going to be problem-free, but that is unsurprising, given that there was never an agreement about what Brexit was. <BR /> <BR />The Green Party wants to see the protocol further developed to allow Northern Ireland to be best placed to take as much advantage for us as possible. We have seen benefits of the protocol for Northern Ireland already.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. The UK Government had years to prepare for the mess that they made, but we all suffer their bluff and bluster as they continue to uphold their mess without our consent. They have repeatedly shown contempt for consent as a principle, so that should not surprise anybody. <BR /> <BR />For the duration of the Brexit process, we have been bombarded with legislation, statutory instruments and legislative consent motions (LCMs), all rushed through with little, if any, scrutiny time or ability for us to understand fully the impacts of what we were being asked to put through. We have had little or no power in the process. We had no inclusion in the formal negotiations, certainly not at a political level, because we should also be reminded that we had no Executive. We had no Ministers at the table during those years.”
“The UK Government had years to prepare for the mess that —”
“What about petrol stations? What about empty shelves? I could go on.”
“My goodness, from listening to some of the contributions, Mr Speaker, you might be fooled into thinking that Brexit has had no impact in GB and only on us in Northern Ireland. As others have said, Brexit has been a disaster for the UK: for GB and for Northern Ireland.”
“We know that the planning system is not well equipped to deal with these issues and that many microgenerators may not require planning permission. We could perhaps remove the inclusion in the Bill of energy from sources that are not environmentally friendly or entirely renewable or that cause harm to nature and biodiversity. Of course, this is a narrowly focused private Member's Bill with a targeted purpose, so it is not going to address all things for all people or all of our energy woes. We all need to be mindful of that, but we support the Bill in principle at this stage and would like to see it proceed for further scrutiny at Committee Stage.”
“A similar scheme is being developed in the South, but this scheme is not as broad in the types of energy generation that it covers, excluding, for example, energy created from biofuel. The primary purpose of domestic generation or microgeneration should be for electricity users to meet their own need for power. Again, there should be a maximum threshold for tariffs paid to micro-producers, otherwise lower-income households could, effectively, subsidise wealthier households that can afford to install microgenerators. <BR /> <BR />Finally, we believe that the Bill could be enhanced by adding some points — for example, referencing the need to achieve net zero in Northern Ireland and introducing additional environmental safeguards.”
“<BR /> <BR />We would also like to see limits on the number of microgenerators that can be placed in one household, business or farm, so that gaming of the system does not result in unintended outcomes. Clause 1(6) should include the need for strict and robust environmental impact assessments of any small-scale green energy schemes in order to ensure that renewable technologies are not increasing the threat to nature and biodiversity. That technology must be deployed in the right places and in harmony with nature. <BR /> <BR />The Green Party also has concerns about the types of technologies that are included under the term "renewable" in clause 1(5). Certain types of electricity generation that may fall under those categories, including AD and combined heat and power, which is explicitly mentioned, are not suited to a scheme like this.”
“I thank the Member for that. He is really getting into the planning system there, and we are going to go into that one. I have spent a long time looking at AD plants, the pollution and the ammonia-emitting projects. I will be happy to show the Member a picture of the ammonia map that we have produced for Northern Ireland. We have a lot to do, and while there is a theory, we are not good at the practice. That is where the alarm bells need to be ringing. It is for those reasons that the safeguards should be included in this Bill in order to ensure that a maximum threshold, as well as a minimum threshold, is set for tariffs to ensure that a Minister cannot inadvertently incentivise harmful practice through the setting of disproportionately high tariffs.”
“In Northern Ireland, we set subsidies at a rate that was far higher than those in GB. What we have done is to incentivise the likes of venture capitalists from London to come over and build many of these polluting AD plants. We need to keep an eye on that, because the impacts of those are causing destruction to our habitats and waterways and are damaging to public health as well.”
“I have to admit to Mr O'Dowd that I have not given as much time and attention to the detail of the Bill as I would have liked, but I hope that my contribution will be of some use to him as the sponsor. <BR /> <BR />Like others, we have concerns with the detail of the Bill. Our concerns are mainly with the potential for abuse of the scheme, for adverse impacts on nature and for the scheme to impact negatively on low-income households. RHI should have taught us so much. We were also reminded by Mr Frew of the rent-a-roof solar scheme that operated here. Mr Beggs made reference to the anaerobic digester schemes. Those schemes continue to operate here. The financial incentive for anaerobic digestion has caused, and continues to cause, widespread environmental harm.”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I have seriously cut down my speaking notes, so I will not be saying everything that I wanted to say. <BR /> <BR />Most of us know that we are in a climate emergency in Northern Ireland. In our push to achieve net zero, the energy sector will be able to move far and fast, and renewable energy will be key to achieving that. The Green Party will support the key policy objectives of the Bill to make microgeneration even more affordable and to incentivise the growth of micro-renewable energy generation at household and community levels. Therefore, I support the Bill at this stage and want to see it progress for further scrutiny at Committee Stage.”
“I thank the Minister for giving way. There has been much mention of the CCC's independent expert advice in setting the targets and advising you and the Executive. Can you let the House know what other expert advice you have availed yourself of when drafting the Bill?”
“I concur with that young person, because it is her future that we hold the responsibility for.”
“The Climate Change Act (Northern Ireland) that will be delivered by the end of this mandate must reflect the fact that, yes, we can do better, that we can be ambitious and that we will achieve, because our very future depends on it. <BR /> <BR />During this debate, I received an email from one of our young climate activists, who was on strike in Cornmarket on Friday. As I spoke about a 2045 net zero target, she wanted to let me know:”
“Minister, we are all hoping that this second Bill is not to be the Mickey Mouse Bill. As it stands, the Green Party cannot support such unambitious legislation, because we know that Northern Ireland deserves better, and acknowledging that only as we begin the road to climate change mitigation and only as everything begins to change can we be ambitious really shows poor leadership. The Green Party will be focused on stepping up and doing all that it can to make this Bill fit for purpose. Are we not tired of constantly being the laggard and being told that we cannot achieve on ambition? It is not unreasonable to aspire to something better.”
“Indeed, in the Chamber, he referred to it as a:”
“<BR /> <BR />It is worth noting that there are quite high levels of environmental and climate ambition in many current and upcoming DAERA strategies, and the green growth strategy, which was mentioned, is only one example. Therefore, why can we not enshrine that ambition in law? There is one big main difference between law and policy, and that is that legal obligation must be met and is not negotiable. We can be held accountable, so why is accountability the fear factor? Why are we so afraid of being held accountable? If the ambition is there, enshrine it in law so that we know that it will be achieved and so that every Department will work towards enabling people and planet not just to survive but to thrive. <BR /> <BR />The Minister has been heavily critical of my Climate Change Bill during debates.”
“Those are the things, Mr Irwin, that we should be really getting stuck into, because we are at the tipping point. We are at the point of irreversible damage, and it is happening under our watch. This is the choice that we are making. We can afford to do it, and arguing that because we are little, we will not make a difference sends a message to every other small country in the world that there is no point in even trying, and that is not a message that the Green Party will ever support. If you add up the emissions of all the countries in the world that produce less than 1% of total global emissions — just like us — it adds up to more than the total emissions of the USA. Every player, big and small, must play its part and must do its fair share in bringing a secure and sustainable future in which no one in this world is left behind.”
“What will we do in the future with climate refugees? How will we mitigate the mass migration of people whose land is disappearing?”
“We make up 0·02% of the global population, yet we emit 0·04% of all global emissions. That is double our fair share on the grand scale. <BR /> <BR />As a developed country, we emit more, so we also have a duty to decarbonise faster. The worst impacts of climate change will be felt in less-developed countries. We need to take responsibility for that damage and for those local people and to start thinking globally while acting locally. <BR /> <BR />Last week, I was in conversation with an ex-president of the Marshall Islands, a set of islands set to be wiped out soon unless radical mitigation measures are imposed. She told me that, despite them not causing the problem, they are going above and beyond their capacity in mitigation because their population and land are at risk.”
“To say that a net zero target covering all GHGs cannot credibly be set for Northern Ireland would, therefore, appear to be a judgement of what is deemed politically feasible rather than what is scientifically or technically achievable. There are reams of it. <BR /> <BR />The time for talking and debating is over. We need action and to start moving on. That is the important part. We can sit here for another 10 years debating smaller points. What is really needed is action to begin the mitigations. <BR /> <BR />We heard claims that Northern Ireland is small and how little of a difference we in Northern Ireland can make on a global scale. There is no doubt that we are small. In other opinions, that makes us better primed to play our full part in mitigation measures.”
“I thank the Member for that. Mr Irwin, I have reams of stuff that I could come back to you with on that. I never said, by the way, that the CCC was politically point-scoring. It also states:”
“Councils, in particular, will have a huge role to play in adaptation measures, so it would be good to see them included in that duty. <BR /> <BR />I have listened to a lot of arguments over the past few weeks and months about the cost of taking action and the affordability of meeting a net zero target. The cost of meeting net zero in the UK is estimated to be 1% to 2% of GDP. Inaction, on the other hand, could lead to a fall in global GDP of up to 10% by 2050. Yet again, this shines a spotlight on the absolute need to be open, honest and transparent with people about the real cost as opposed to any scaremongering or political point-scoring that might be going on. <BR /> <BR />We need to bring people on board —”
“The IPCC concluded recently that neither biodiversity loss nor climate change will be resolved successfully unless tackled together, yet biodiversity is absent. <BR /> <BR />However, there are positive aspects to the Bill. It contains well-developed provisions on carbon budgeting, which appear to mirror those in the 2008 UK Act. However, it might be worth looking to our neighbours in Scotland to see how to enhance those because Scotland's carbon budgeting procedures are more up to date. Of course, it is deeply regrettable that, despite the UK Act being in place since 2008, the Northern Ireland Executive are only now, in 2021, applying that to specific Northern Ireland legislation. <BR /> <BR />The public-sector duty is very welcome. It would be worth expanding that duty beyond Departments to all public bodies.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Bill's inherent failure to consider Northern Ireland's unique geographical and political position, as I mentioned, means that we need an oversight body, such as the climate commissioner included in my Climate Change Bill, that is physically located here in Northern Ireland and can provide advice to us. <BR /> <BR />It is fair to say that Minister Poots has introduced a low-carbon Bill as opposed to a climate change Bill. It has no just transition, as others have said; no Northern Ireland climate commissioner or other independent monitoring body that is physically located here, at home; and no targets on soil, water quality or biodiversity, even though those are considered key climate change indicators.”
“Policies need to be underpinned by ambitious targets. That legal underpinning will force us to embed what we know is happening in England, for example, with the public money for public good principle and the establishment of a Just Transition Fund for agriculture to help farmers to pay for new technologies. Those are just two examples of policies that the Minister may want to consider. <BR /> <BR />Just transition principles are noticeably absent from the Bill, as others mentioned. Such principles have the potential to significantly help many sectors to ensure fairness in the process. They are included in my Climate Change Bill and in the Scottish Act, so it is disappointing that they are missing from this Bill.”
“Minister, you sit on the North/South Ministerial Council. You should have that conversation with your ministerial colleagues in the South and bring that learning back to us. <BR /> <BR />Recently, I read about a project called Farm Zero C that has received funding in County Cork. It aims to make 5,000 dairy farms carbon neutral within the next five years. That is the kind of innovation that is being driven by a strong commitment to a net zero target. We need exactly that kind of ambition to enable our sector and our farmers here, at home, to achieve the same. I remind the Minister that, if he is concerned that setting a net zero target would negatively impact on the agri-food sector, his Department has the power to avoid that by introducing the necessary policies and the economic incentives to go with them.”
“Many will cite and have cited our agri-food sector as a reason not to aim for net zero, but we know that the Republic of Ireland has forged ahead with a net zero target, even though its emissions profile is even more heavily influenced by its agriculture sector than ours is.”
“Should the Bill be passed, that will reflect on Northern Ireland, and we will be in another embarrassing situation. The target is predicated on a business-as-usual model when business as usual is over. We need to start being open and honest with people about the drastic, deep and rapid change that needs to happen in order to deal with the increasingly urgent threat to humanity's existence that we are watching unfold due to our inaction and the very systems that we have created across the globe. <BR /> <BR />The 82% target is calculated solely on the basis that Northern Ireland will contribute to the UK net zero target, without any acknowledgement of Northern Ireland's political and geographical context as a devolved jurisdiction that has a unique relationship with the UK, the Republic of Ireland, the EU and the rest of the world.”
“We continue to say, "Doing nothing is not an option", which is a nice, catchy line that is being widely used, but I want to stress that not doing enough is also not an option. <BR /> <BR />I turn to the Bill. It includes a target for an at least 82% reduction in GHG emissions by 2050. Before we get to the target, as Mr Carroll pointed out, Members need to be aware that DAERA is giving itself the power in the Bill to amend the target. There is, as Mr Carroll also rightly pointed out, no guarantee to prevent it from lowering that target. The CCC has termed the 82% a target that we cannot say that we cannot reach. Therefore, I see absolutely no reason to include in the Bill a provision that could lower the target. Neither can I see such a provision in climate legislation in any other jurisdiction. The 82% target is simply inadequate.”
“People have had enough of undelivered strategies. Those will no longer suffice. How long have we waited for an ammonia strategy, a waste strategy, an air pollution strategy, an environment strategy and an agriculture strategy? I could go on and on, and yet the health and well-being of people continues to suffer year-on-year. <BR /> <BR />We have all heard about the inaction, the empty promises and the unachieved commitments from the New Decade, New Approach deal that have led us to this point. We have heard about the IPCC report, and we have seen for ourselves, even just this summer, how we have had extreme weather events all over the world. Everybody knows what needs to be done, whether they admit it or not.”
“We cannot continue to uphold an economic system that has done us wrong and claim it as a right. Every time that we set ambitious targets, we are told that we cannot achieve them. When we do set them, we overachieve and surpass them. Some railed at the renewable energy target of having 40% of our electricity come from renewable sources. We were told that it was going to cost the consumer too much, when, in fact, the very opposite was the reality. Again, recycling targets were challenged as being unachievable and costly, and here we go again with the "We can't do it" mantra from those who should just admit that they do not want to do it. <BR /> <BR />DAERA has been good at making promises, and we are looking at new ones coming in the green growth paper, but it seems too afraid to put those promises into law.”
“It is impossible to look at the Bill without also looking at the state of us in Northern Ireland. We have had carbon reductions of 18% since 1990, when every other region is reducing by an average of up to 40%. Why is that? We have been pursuing the Going for Growth strategy with no regard to the environmental, climate or human health consequences. Our habitats and communities are choking on ammonia. An ineffective environment agency is upholding knowingly unlawful policies. There is no independent environmental protection agency. We have power-sharing institutions that are constantly beset by crisis after crisis, under a system that is not fit for any future governance purposes, and we have siloed departmental working that cannot develop the sustainability that we need. <BR /> <BR />The arguing about the costs needs to stop.”
“The sector gets up to 86% of its income from public subsidies. If I were to do an economic impact assessment of my household income, it would find that removing 86% of my income would have pretty damaging effects.”
“I thank the Minister for giving way. Is the Minister aware that the KPMG report says that:”