Edwin Poots
South Belfast · Democratic Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“I call Mr Eóin Tennyson. Again, this is Mr Tennyson's first opportunity to speak as a private Member, so I remind the House that it is convention that a maiden speech be made without interruption. However, if you choose to express views that provoke an interruption, you are likely to forfeit that protection.”
“Sorry — Ms Armstrong. My apologies. <BR /> <BR />That the Assembly could, in some way, get that money out when it is a UK Government responsibility. The UK Government have distributed it directly in Scotland and Wales, not through the Welsh Parliament and not through the Scottish Parliament.”
“I have not got time; I am sorry. <BR /> <BR />Ursula von der Leyen, who was in the Republic last week, made some of the most ridiculous claims about the British Government, who have supported Ukraine in a way that no other Government in Europe have and who have never engaged in the activity that was suggested by Ursula von der Leyen.”
“Today, a lot of statements have been made but there has not been a lot of fact behind a lot of what has been said. We have Michelle O'Neill, who walked out of her role as Health Minister — not for six months but for three years — and abandoned her position when we had Bengoa and there were all the problems with nursing that led to the str…”
“I need to deal with the issues first. <BR /> <BR />He referred to the Budget that he produced. No party supported that Budget. The Alliance Party did not support it, because it did not cover policing and prisons. Infrastructure did not support it, because it would not allow it to do the basics of what had to be done.”
“We had a circumstance where Sinn Féin repeated, month after month after month, that there were hundreds of millions to give to the public when that did not exist and when, in reality, Minister Murphy was racking up debt that will roll into next year, which will ensure that that will be a difficult financial year.”
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“<BR /> <BR />It is clear from my discussions at COP26 that we must tackle climate change and biodiversity loss together in order to secure our health and well-being and to deliver a truly green economy for Northern Ireland. I am encouraged by the examples that we have seen from Northern Ireland and across the UK that, with the right interventions and nature-based solutions, we can, will and must restore our natural capital assets and support a prosperous, low-carbon, high-nature future for all. <BR /> <BR />The green growth strategy is a big step forward for Northern Ireland as we move from a high- to low-emissions society. This decade — the 2020s — has to be a decade of urgent action. Today, we act. Tomorrow, we thrive.”
“We must continue to build on those successes. <BR /> <BR />Earlier this year, with the agreement of my Executive colleagues, Northern Ireland joined the Under2 Coalition, which brings together 260 Governments representing 1·75 billion people and over 50% of the global economy. The coalition provides a means for those regions and states that are not a signatory party to the COP to show their ambition globally to tackling climate change. From the discussions that I had at COP26 and with members of the Under2 Coalition and ministerial colleagues from other parts of the UK, the Executive must take forward actions to deliver on that ambition in support of the wider UK and global ambitions.”
“<BR /> <BR />Having attended COP26 last week as part of the UK party delegation, I can only reiterate that the green growth strategy is a first step on our journey in Northern Ireland to addressing the conjoined climate and nature emergencies. As the strategy indicates, we can, will and must act now and make a significant difference. Innovation and collaboration will be critical on our journey to UK net zero and being nature positive. We cannot afford to wait and must act now. <BR /> <BR />Northern Ireland, as part of the UK, must lead by example in our actions as others look to us for leadership. I am hugely impressed by the innovation and leadership already shown by the private, public and voluntary sectors, and how, when we work together, we can achieve positive outcomes that benefit our climate, biodiversity and economy.”
“I encourage Ministers to consider areas for which they will require funding to deliver on the commitments in the strategy and how they plan to approach them. <BR /> <BR />This presents major opportunities to create a new skill set and green jobs through the more efficient use of our resources within a circular economy. As well as creating green jobs, we will seek to protect and repurpose existing jobs where possible. In addition to launching the green growth strategy, we have kick-started a period of consultation on the strategy. I encourage you all to respond, as we want to hear your views. They are important and will inform the final document. We are living the green growth ethos, and, to that effect, we have not printed copies of the draft strategy. It can be found on the DAERA website, where you can also respond to the consultation.”
“That can be the beginning of a green revolution — the next Industrial Revolution — which can help to rebuild our economy following the COVID-19 crisis. It will require significant long-term investment from the public and private sectors as we work together to adapt to our new and changing priorities. <BR /> <BR />I am preparing a significant bid to allow my Department to deliver on green growth. It will support the delivery of several major elements of the green growth strategy that DAERA plans to fund. The profile is structured around six themes: agri-food; forestry and nature; the blue economy; the circular economy and waste; public-sector decarbonisation; and rural decarbonisation.”
“Artemis’s design makes high-speed and high-range electric propulsion a commercial viability for the first time. Through working with local universities and companies, comprising experts in the fields of aerospace, motor sport and yacht design, Artemis is creating highly skilled jobs and even has an apprenticeship programme, training people to achieve the skills that they need to work in Artemis. That is a great example of green jobs, and I look forward to seeing what comes next from that company as it continues to innovate in order to solve that issue for the maritime sector. <BR /> <BR />Through innovation, research and development, investment and the need to think differently, the technology is being developed here on our doorstep to turn problems into solutions.”
“<BR /> <BR />We must end our reliance on fossil fuels and find less harmful ways of heating our homes and businesses and fuelling our cars. That, in itself, presents huge opportunities for doing things differently, such as the exciting opportunities that hydrogen brings. We are already making great progress in that area through the likes of Wrightbus. We must provide opportunities through investment in innovation to help us to advance new ways of working; for example, the potential of using waste streams from agriculture to provide energy, which can also help to solve an environmental issue. <BR /> <BR />We launched the green growth strategy at Artemis Technologies in Lisburn. It is leading on a project to decarbonise the maritime sector by launching the world’s first high-speed, zero-emission passenger ferry.”
“On implementing those commitments and principles, we must also ensure that the transition to a more sustainable economy is fair and just for everyone. We have a tremendous opportunity to be a part of something, where the journey from a high-emissions to a low-emissions society can bring real benefits and opportunities for everyone. <BR /> <BR />We can protect our precious environment. It provides the air that we breathe, the food that we eat, the water that we drink and the materials that we use for building. Our way of life is at threat if we do not take care of it. We will create green jobs that develop a whole new skill set and workforce that have a positive impact on the planet. That will bring incredible opportunities and create a stronger economy as we develop and adjust to new ways of working.”
“By way of example, the energy strategy — an Executive strategy that is being led by the Department for the Economy — provides an ambitious pathway to decarbonising energy. The strategy covers almost 60% of our total emissions and forms an important part of Northern Ireland’s overall plan to address climate change. We simply must work together on those important issues, and I am pleased to say that we have been liaising closely with the team that is leading on the development of the energy strategy, as it has an important role to play in achieving our green growth goals. <BR /> <BR />The draft green growth strategy is underpinned by a set of principles, with the aim of integrating a new way of thinking into how we operate. We want everyone to apply those principles — individuals, businesses, communities and government alike.”
“Those commitments represent our aspirations and ambition for the future of Northern Ireland and the impetus that we are placing on taking action now. We want to inspire, support and lead as we embrace new challenges and, indeed, new opportunities. <BR /> <BR />At this stage, we have not set specific targets. A detailed action plan is being developed, and that will set out what we need to do. It will identify sectors, establish emissions reductions targets and outline the actions that are required to deliver on the commitments in the green growth strategy. We recognise the need, through the green growth strategy, to coordinate planning and delivery across climate, environment and green jobs.”
“As I mentioned, the draft green growth strategy includes 10 commitments, which will set out how we balance climate action, clean environment and our economy, and it demonstrates how the Executive intend to approach those issues as part of our COVID recovery plan. For example, Ministers have agreed to lead by example through delivering a government estate and fleet with net zero operational carbon emissions and ensuring a green growth-aligned procurement strategy for all government spend. We also aim to embed green growth in all our decision-making. We have committed to ensuring that green growth is central to all our policy and budgetary decisions by introducing a green growth test and making green growth a budgetary priority.”
“That will be an important document in dealing with the environmental challenges that we face. I made a statement on the environment strategy this morning.”
“I also note that this is something that starts with each one of us: we can all make a difference. Across all sectors, businesses and organisations, and as individuals, we will have choices ahead of us where we must make the right decisions for the environment around us. Our natural environment is one of the most beautiful in the world. Our stunning scenery is world famous, and we must protect it. It is precious to us, and we must do everything that we can to preserve it for future generations: it is our responsibility. We are not starting from scratch: we have already come a long way in reducing our emissions in Northern Ireland, but we can and will do more. We now have an Executive-approved environment strategy, which will be key in setting out our environmental priorities and will help to deliver on the green growth strategy.”
“It is a multi-decade strategy that sets out the long-term vision and a solid framework for tackling the climate crisis in the right way and helping us to meet our targets to support the UK's goal of achieving net zero by 2050. <BR /> <BR />I am delighted that the strategy has been agreed by the Northern Ireland Executive. It is something on which we can all work together for a better future for us and for generations to come, and I thank ministerial colleagues for their support. I stress, however, that we, as an Executive, need to show leadership. We need to walk the walk and not just talk the talk, and the draft green growth strategy contains 10 commitments that will ensure that we do just that.”
“Following Executive approval on 21 October, I am pleased that, as the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, I can stand here today to present to you the draft green growth strategy. My Department, on behalf of the Northern Ireland Executive, has been leading the development of the green growth strategy, which is an important milestone for Northern Ireland in the fight against climate change. There is widespread recognition that, by continuing to meet our consumption through traditional methods such as fossil fuels, we have a damaging impact on our environment. Green growth means using the move from a high- to a low-emissions society to improve people's quality of life through green jobs and a clean, resilient environment, and that is exactly what we intend to do with the green growth strategy.”
“We can certainly alter our environment. When God made this place and looked on it, he said, "It's very good". He did not look on oceans that were full of plastic, rivers that were polluted and air that was full of particles that it should not have. I would like to try to make the environment very good. It would be good for all of us to commit to that.”
“It will be the same people, the people whom you have just been running down.”
“It is pretty mean of a politician to denigrate all 900 people who work in the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) and to have no trust in them. There are a lot of very good people in the Northern Ireland Environment Agency. As a body, it could work better. At the moment, it is too silo-based. People specialise in particular areas and sometimes do not see the wider benefit and the necessity for having a bit of give in the area that they are in. However, all in all, I have to say that the Northern Ireland Environment Agency is made up of people who have specialisms and a lot of knowledge in their field of expertise. If we ultimately develop an independent environment agency, who will populate that? Where do you think the people who are currently in the NIEA will go?”
“As a politician, I have never been the type to overpromise. I prefer to underpromise and overdeliver than to overpromise and underdeliver. I have been around since 1998, and, over the years, the politicians who have come in here and overpromised seem to have had a shorter shelf life than those who tended to be more measured.”
“We have engaged with the Bill sponsor. My officials have engaged extensively, but we are not finding common ground. That is unfortunate, because it is critical that we find a way through this and move forward together as an Assembly. <BR /> <BR />I do not think that there is a huge disparity across the House in what people want to achieve. People want to see a huge reduction in our greenhouse gases and carbon emissions. They want to see us developing means of sequestrating carbon. Some people want to do it very quickly, and others say, "If we do it that quickly, there will be a huge cost associated with it, and we need to absorb that a little more slowly". Those are all challenges for the House to decide on. I trust that it will be a rounded decision that is based on qualitative science and will deliver on what people promise.”
“<BR /> <BR />I know that, at this time, as Dr Aiken pointed out, some councils are in Arc21, for example, and feel tied to Arc21 in relation to what it does and, therefore, have been held back by a lack of decisions on what Arc21 wants to do. Others may prefer to move on to do something else but feel that they cannot. It is for councils, which have the responsibility for that side of waste, to do what is right for their ratepayers and the wider community at the same time.”
“This strategy does not. I am not opposed to that. However, we established three waste organisations. Two of those have pretty much fallen by the wayside, and one still exists. When I reflect on that, I do not think that it was the greatest success story ever. In going forward, we need to set clear targets for councils and fully assist them to meet those. We now have 11 councils. They are larger councils, they are more capable of entering into contracts and they can collaborate with one another. Perhaps it is something that we do not need to force and the organisations themselves will recognise that they can move forward with through good collaboration.”
“It is deliberate that there are six. When we looked at it initially, there were potentially 20, but we decided to become much more focused. That is why we have the six, which are key areas that we need to tackle. Air quality, water quality, carbon emissions and waste are all key actions that will come from the environment strategy. Other strategies will pick up other issues. The environment strategy should not be looked at on its own; it should be looked at in the context of green growth, which we will speak about shortly. It needs to be looked at in the context of a biodiversity strategy, a peatland strategy and an ammonia strategy. All those strategies, which we are pulling together, will give us an overarching set of strategies that will encompass all the issues relating to the environment.”
“That has not been done by allowing things to grow wild, because, when you let things grow wild, the like of briars, thistles, dockens, fern and so forth take over. Good management will ensure that you have a higher level of biodiversity. That is where we need to aim. You cannot have rewilding and biodiversity together because you will end up losing loads of species if you just abandon things.”
“I would be entirely supportive of reopening the Newry canal, the Ulster canal and Lagan navigation. They would be good investments for the future of our country, tourism and North/South linkages. They would all be hugely beneficial. Unfortunately, it is not my Department that drives that, so the question is to the wrong Minister. If the Minister who has responsibility brings that forward, I would certainly support it. <BR /> <BR />The Member also mentioned rewilding. I have already recommended and encouraged Members to do this, but, if they want to see good practice, they should go to Glenwherry, where they have engaged in qualitative management. Work is being done on re-wetting the peatlands, and the number of ground-nesting birds has been raised and the biodiversity improved.”
“Not only am I saying that I want to see the 1·5°C limit but I have committed to the Under2 Coalition, which was established in 2016 and is now going to rename itself, as the target, which was under 2°C at that time, will now be less than that. It represents 57% of regional governments from across Europe, North America, Asia — all parts of the world, basically. They are committed to reducing our carbon and greenhouse gases and to making the environment a better place.”
“The Member said nine words before his "but", and then he made a series of criticisms of Northern Ireland that run his country down, but that is up to the Member.”
“We are not renaming the Department an "eco-Department"; we are applying to be an eco-Department and to be the first Department in the world to achieve that. We should not denigrate the hard work that people put into developing such things to ensure that Northern Ireland can be at the forefront and at the cutting edge. <BR /> <BR />The independent environmental agency is something that we could not move forward in the period from January 2020 to now, particularly given the background of the COVID crisis, to make the changes that would be required. That will be for a new Assembly and a new Executive to take forward on the basis of all the information that is available to them. It will be a choice for the new Assembly and Executive to make.”
“<BR /> <BR />Going forward, the longer those decisions do not happen, the more waste goes to landfill and the more methane is produced from landfill. As those sites already exist, it is not difficult because you do not have to make that decision. There are already landfill sites capable of taking that waste, and the easiest thing is to put the decision off. We need to stop putting off decisions and make decisions, face the public on them, face the scrutiny of courts on them — all of the decisions are likely to be judicially reviewed — and move the country forward on that basis. We cannot move forward on the basis of paralysis. That just leads to nothing.”
“I thank the Member for the question. There will not always be easy decisions to make in managing our environment. Sometimes there will be more difficult decisions. I have corresponded with the Infrastructure Minister and have clearly identified to her that we need additional capacity to deal with waste that is not recyclable. Therefore, a decision needs to be made on energy from waste. It is for the Infrastructure Minister to make those decisions, because they are planning decisions. I will not interfere in her decision-making process and her responsibility, but I will seek to facilitate her in every way to identify the need that exists — we have done that — and demonstrate to her the importance of an infrastructure that will remove waste from landfill.”
“Identifying suitable sites will be hugely beneficial, because seagrass needs to be planted in fairly shallow water, and how it impacts on those who are out on our water needs to be considered. It has been suggested that, for the equivalent space covered, seagrass can be 35 times better than forest at capturing carbon, so we certainly need to look at it. We will never be able to stop all carbon production, and its sequestration is therefore critical in the battle to get to net zero.”
“In the first year of Forests for Our Future, in aiming for 1·8 million trees every year on average over 10 years, we planted 1·2 million or 1·3 million trees, so we did not hit the 1.8 million target, but, from a standing start, that is still very good. For some reason, up until around 2007, we were planting considerably more trees, and the number then dropped off fairly significantly for a period. We have put a lot of resource, support and additional money into the Forest Service, which grant-aids landowners to plant trees. Ultimately, I believe that it will be a successful project. I commend the Forest Service, which is working extremely hard to ensure its success. <BR /> <BR />The issue that the Member raises about seagrass is important.”
“Therein lies the difficulty, and a lot of it comes back to producer responsibility and ensuring that a lot of the stuff that they produce is biodegradable. We need to reduce massively the amount of plastic that is involved in production processes. We need our councils to continue to be strong on litter waste, because it is an unacceptable trait of our society, Most of all, we all need to engage with people. We need to support those who collect waste and ensure that the message continues to be hammered out. <BR /> <BR />A hard core of people just do not seem to care about our environment, and they will deposit litter willy-nilly rather than leave it in their car until they get back home, where they can put it into the appropriate bin.”
“It is a difficult one. When I am out walking on my road, which is a rural road, I come across chip papers, paper from fast-food outlets, Red Bull cans and all those things deposited at the side of the road. I literally do not understand it. We have an education process, and young people are taught from their schooldays, as they have been since my schooldays, about the importance of not throwing litter, yet people still engage in the practice as if it means nothing. They leave the responsibility to some other person, who goes out with a bag and a litter picker to collect it. It is entirely wrong that people do that. <BR /> <BR />We cannot have council officers driving around in vans, pursuing every car to see whether litter will be thrown out.”
“Where we can capture it, we should capture it. Where we cannot, we should look to nature-based solutions, like appropriate tree planting adjacent to dairy farms, where a lot of the ammonia would be absorbed into the local environment. There are ways to tackle these things, and we need to adapt those ways to our particular circumstances in Northern Ireland. We produce a lot of food and want to continue to do so.”
“I hope that it will be very soon. I have said that before, mind you, but I genuinely hope that it will be very soon. It is a difficult and tricky one to finalise. However, we are getting there. The vast majority of ammonia emissions come from agricultural sources. I think that around 15% is from the pig and poultry sector. I am hugely interested in the capacity to capture that ammonia. Pig houses have air conditioning and fan systems. If we can filtrate that ammonia into one source and capture it, could it then be put into a cracker that produces hydrogen? It is believed that farm ammonia would be a particularly heavy form of ammonia and would therefore be useful for the shipping sector. <BR /> <BR />It is about how we look at things differently. Ammonia should be looked at as a potential opportunity.”
“Peatlands are a particularly important element, and there is much to do on them; not so much on the sequestration of carbon but in reducing the carbon that they emit currently because they store a lot of it.”
“We need to ensure that they become, basically, big basins of water that will support the peatland activity. We also need to continue to reduce ammonia. Therefore, I have taken steps, for example, that will take 25% of the ammonia out of the system, such as low-emission spreading equipment etc. We need to take further steps to reduce ammonia. We have been talking to other people about appropriate tree planting close to farms and so forth, which can absorb huge amounts of that material. We need to take those steps to restore peatlands. They are a particularly important part of our landscape. We need to ensure that there is appropriate strip burning in peatland areas, so that we do not lose hundreds of hectares at one time. Appropriate strip burning will help to ensure that, in drier periods, we do not have accidental fires.”
“Therefore, peatlands require better management. The first element of that is the wetting of the peatlands. That is responsible for over 50% of the degradation that takes place. In Northern Ireland, we have not seen the significant harvesting of peatland that we have seen in the Republic of Ireland. The Republic of Ireland talks about 100% net zero, and I am interested to see what it will do about peatlands, because it has devastated its peatlands, and a huge amount of carbon will have been released from that. It will be interesting to watch how it undoes the damage there. <BR /> <BR />In other parts of the UK and Great Britain, there will be higher levels of peatland erosion, which is a bigger challenge. Raised bogs here certainly need to be rewetted.”
“We are looking at the Scottish experience. Uplands play a key role. Spending money to deliver those better natural defences will be beneficial to the likes of DFI. If we manage peatlands better, DFI will spend less money on cleaning water because less peaty soil will get into it as a consequence.”
“As with all these things, it will not always be the responsibility of one Department. DAERA's peatland strategy is well developed, and it will be published soon.”
“We are responsible to the people who elect us here, for which I am very grateful. We can be much more responsive to the needs of the community in Northern Ireland than an unelected European Commission and a Parliament of around 800 people — I may be wrong about that number — in which we have only three elected members. We can directly respond to the needs of Northern Ireland in a much better way, and I am pleased to have that democratic deficit restored to Northern Ireland.”
“Nobody has ever proposed regression, so I am not sure from where the Member is introducing regression. We have the opportunity to apply environmental practices that are bespoke to the circumstances in which we find ourselves. We are not in Finland, almost on the Arctic Circle, and nor are we in the southern Mediterranean in Greece or Sicily. We are Northern Ireland, and we have our own peculiar environmental aspects that they do not have, and they have their own peculiar environmental aspects that we do not have. Therefore, EU-wide policy is not the best fit to manage things at a local level. <BR /> <BR />We have the opportunity to develop bespoke arrangements to protect our environment, to support our agriculture community and for a range of other things. We now have the freedom. We are the lawmakers.”
“If they are genuinely and truly committed to doing that, they will have to make tough decisions to bring it forward. <BR /> <BR />There is a cost to the public, so we need to be honest with them. If we are going to live in this consumptive society, we need to reduce our consumption of things that we do not need, and the things that we do need must be produced in an environmentally sustainable way.”
“I agree with the Member that they are struggling and will struggle. We need to look at how we set things that are achievable and deliver on them. Therefore, I am opposed to making aspirational commitments without having any scientific backing. <BR /> <BR />I am also very clear that, right across the UK and in Northern Ireland, if we are to deliver on the environment, as opposed to just saying nice things about the environment and how committed we are to having a better environment, that will involve real and significant investment. That real and significant investment will also involve decisions that displace investment from other places in which we currently invest. That is the challenge that faces the Executive and that will face a new Executive in 2022.”
“As one of the biggest suppliers of virgin packaging in the world, he could massively reduce such packaging.”
“<BR /> <BR />The most important element with waste is not producing it in the first instance. A lot of the work that we are doing is on producer-packaging responsibility. People must take responsibility for the packaging that they produce and know that there will be a cost associated to them for producing the waste in the first instance. Regarding all the waste that is coming from virgin goods, recycling is a good thing, but it would be better if we had less packaging and waste to recycle. Every company and business needs to take that on board and to recognise that they have do what they can to reduce waste. Jeff Bezos from Amazon was at COP26, and perhaps he can take actions, other than flying into space, to really help the environment.”
“I thank the Member for the question. The councils have played a key role in getting our waste recycling rates up there, and their cooperation is essential. We set a target of 50% by 2020 and achieved it ahead of time. I set the target when I was Environment Minister, and, at the time, people said that we would not meet it, but we did. There is a new target of 65%, which is a UK-wide target. I would prefer the target to be 70% recycling and for the rest of the waste to be dealt with as energy from waste. Decisions have to be taken on energy from waste. For example, we have a gasification facility in Belfast in the Harbour estate, but we will need an expansion of that or the creation of further facilities to ensure that we continue to tackle the waste that is not recyclable.”
“I could go on, as there is a very long list of areas that we want to tackle that flow from this strategy. This is not something to gather dust; there is a whole series of action plans flowing from it.”
“We have a very long series of actions. For example, to connect to the environment, landscapes, seascapes and natural beauty by 2025, we will want 110 internationally awarded green and blue sites. We want to develop, by 2027, long-term strategic ways for the management, planning, enhancement and protection of our landscapes and seascapes. On water, marine and coastal water resources, we want to publish, by 2022, the final river basin management plans. The Member will know how important that is because of all the rivers that feed into Lough Neagh in his constituency. By 2027, we want 70% of water bodies to have "good" status, and, by 2031, we aim to reduce the nutrient surplus in soils and to achieve sustainable management of water and soils.”