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.”
The complete record
Every one of 3,549 lines we hold for Edwin Poots, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 30 of 71.
“It was a strategic review of the opportunities for developing the sea fishing and seafood sectors in Northern Ireland as a whole, including the potential role of new public investment in infrastructure. The report focuses on recommendations on capital investment at the main fishery harbours and highlights a number of challenges and opportunities for the wider industry that could be addressed through a future fisheries financial support scheme. <BR /> <BR />The report marks the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the fishing industry here. It highlights the considerable investment that is required to help the industry to adapt to the challenges that it faces and to grasp the opportunities presented following the UK's exit from the European Union.”
“I appreciate the comments made by Members in response to the issues that I have brought to their attention today. A couple of questions were raised about additional funding for COVID-19. The UK-wide Seafood Response Fund was a further bonus for the local fleet of potters and trawlers. That covered support towards fishing vessels' fixed costs during the first quarter of 2020-21. In total, 144 Northern Ireland fishing vessel owners secured £1·212 million in financial assistance. The scheme was administered across the UK by the Marine Management Organisation. My officials are considering a submission from the Northern Ireland Fishermen's Federation for further COVID-19 support for the period from April to June 2021. <BR /> <BR />I published a final report on the fishing and seafood development programme on 5 May 2021.”
“<BR /> <BR />Since the start of the pandemic, my Department has been actively engaging with all sectors in the sea fishing industry to deliver a number of financial assistance packages to overcome the immediate impacts of COVID-19 on their businesses. The latest scheme brings the total amount of support to the sea fishing industry to £2·87 million, of which £287,000 was specifically for aquaculture. <BR /> <BR />I thank the Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee for its prompt scrutiny of the SL1 for this statutory rule that provides financial assistance to the potting fleet.”
“Unfortunately, that scheme was made under repealed primary powers and had to be remade and laid under powers under the Fisheries Act 2020. Before it was brought to my Department's attention that the previous scheme had no legal effect, it had made payments totalling £139,000 to 49 vessel owners. As soon as my Department became aware of the issue with the scheme, it stopped making payments under it and brought in the replacement regulations. The regulations allow the owners of the remaining eligible vessels to be paid and bring the total amount of payments to the potting fleet to just over £142,000.”
“<BR /> <BR />The financial assistance that was available to eligible Northern Ireland fishing boats under the scheme was calculated at 50% of the potting fleet's average monthly fixed costs, as evidenced in their previous three financial years. The support covered a maximum of four months, and the total maximum amount payable for each month was capped at £1,250 and a total of £5,000 over the four-month period under the scheme. It was specifically designed to assist the smaller inshore vessels, which target shellfish such as crabs and lobsters. Just over £142,000 in total will be received by 51 vessels. <BR /> <BR />The regulations that you are being asked to affirm today replace a previous scheme that was made under the confirmatory procedure in March 2021.”
“<BR /> <BR />Under those regulations, Northern Ireland fishing boats were eligible for support if they: had a valid safety certificate issued by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency; at the date of the application, were insured for the purposes of commercial sea fishing; had, during the period 1 November 2018 to 31 October 2020, conducted more than 50% of their sea fishing activity using static fishing gear; had, during the period 1 November 2018 to 31 October 2020, landed more than 50% of their value of declared sea fish landings into ports in the United Kingdom; had declared sea fish landings for the year 2019 that were valued at £10,000 or more; and had a minimum of 12 declared sea fish landings during the period 1 June 2020 to 31 October 2020.”
“The regulations, which are the subject of this motion, provided for the financial assistance scheme and were developed in consultation with the main sea fishing industry organisations in response to my announcement on 5 October 2020. The regulations were made under powers conferred on my Department by the Fisheries Act 2020.”
“It was in urgent need of support to ensure that there was a profitable fishing industry to return to once COVID-19 subsided. As the COVID-19 pandemic continued to have a significant impact, I announced a second financial support package for the sea fishing industry on 5 October 2020. Part of that second package was a scheme specifically to assist with the fixed costs of the fishing vessels of commercial fishermen that deploy static gear, such as pots and creels, typically to target crabs and lobsters. That sector continued to be badly affected by the closure of the hospitality sector. <BR /> <BR />The scheme covered the period from 1 September 2020 to December 2020.”
“Apologies, Mr Principal Deputy Speaker, for being slightly late. We were told that the debate would be at 4.30 pm, but then it came up on the screen. I had a bit of a rush down, but I am here now. <BR /> <BR />Members will recall that, on 3 April 2020, I announced an initial £1·5 million support package to ensure that the Northern Ireland fishing industry was supported through the COVID-19 pandemic. That financial support package was in response to the unprecedented difficulties brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, which had an immediate impact on the industry after the introduction of social-distancing measures and the collapse of the European and domestic fish markets. <BR /> <BR />The Northern Ireland fishing industry faced extreme difficulties as a result of COVID-19.”
“Sitka spruce trees are pretty good at carbon sequestration as well. I planted broadleaf trees on my own land many years ago, not for commercial interest but to help the environment. Whilst Sitka spruce trees may not be my tree of choice, planting trees for commercial interest but with environmental benefits is not a bad thing. Forest Service's making £10 million a year is not a bad thing. We need to have wood in our lives, whether it is for the pencils that we use, the beds that we sleep in or the floors that we walk on. Planting trees that we will use to harvest is not a bad thing.”
“They will have to identify whether they support DAERA in its request and whether they have the green credentials to ensure that DAERA gets the finances to take real and meaningful action on carbon reduction. We have had substantial success in the energy sector in particular, which is no longer one of the big three. Those are now agriculture, transport and people's homes. There is work to be done to make that real, tangible difference. The question that I have for all my Assembly colleagues today is this: will you support me in doing that, or will you just make noises about the environment without providing the actions to back up that noise? That is a challenge that I lay down to all of you.”
“We have our climate change legislation, which has been sitting with the Executive, to bring forward, but legislation on its own will not ensure that we reduce carbon by the amount that is required. We need actions. The actions that we will take will be contained in our green growth policy. We will continue to work extensively on the development of that green growth policy. One of the things that my officials are working on is the funding to support that. We are looking at putting in a request to the Department of Finance for around £100 million per annum over the next number of years so that we can seriously tackle the issues of carbon reduction. <BR /> <BR />Many folk have been keen to show their green credentials in the Climate Change Bill.”
“Of course, the fishermen have their problems as well. The problems are so extensive, and, if the Member wants detail, she will get an overload of it very quickly.”
“<BR /> <BR />If you want to grab on to one element where the protocol has been beneficial, that is absolutely fine, but why ignore the many thousands of companies that import plants for sale in our nurseries; that import the trees that we plant in Northern Ireland to ensure that we protect our environment; or that import hedges? I cannot buy a hedge from Lancashire, but I can buy one from Latvia. I am sorry, but the product that is growing and was bred in a similar environment is the product that is best placed to suit Northern Ireland. Our farmers who were previously selling their bulls in England cannot sell them any more, because, if they take them there, they have to stay there for six months. There is no reason for it. Farmers who bought sheep were left stranded in Scotland, which caused them huge problems.”
“I absolutely refuse. What Dr Johnson did not point out was that the beneficial impact that he identified for the dairy industry does not apply to the beef, chicken or pork industries. For example, Foyle Food Group in Dungannon and other companies in Northern Ireland import tens of millions of pounds of beef from Great Britain for further processing here that then goes back to Great Britain. That is impacted on as a consequence of the protocol. The same applies to chicken and pork. Those are important elements of ensuring the viability of the beef, chicken and pork industries.”
“If Dale Farm has achieved something on the back of the protocol, I congratulate it, and I commiserate with the many thousands of businesses that are damaged as a consequence of the protocol.”
“The Member is absolutely right: they are totally unacceptable. It is also unacceptable that pointing that out is met with inflexibility in finding a solution. Our Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) and the UK Chief Veterinary Officer are engaging with their European Union counterpart. All know that this is just nonsense, but the politicians are not allowing it to change. It is regrettable that, even when you point out things that are entirely reasonable, the European Union engages in a way that is entirely unreasonable.”
“That is the case for rabies, which has not existed in Ireland, Great Britain or, indeed, Northern Ireland for 99 years.”
“The European Union's expectation that we should treat animals for tapeworm and, indeed, rabies was put back in the first instance to 1 July. I chose to defer that further to 1 October because, again, we need solutions. No one, but no one, can argue that this poses a threat to the single market. Doing what the European Union wants us to do poses a threat to people who are disabled, who are not able to get their guide dog. Doing what the European Union wants us to do poses a threat to people who have family members in Great Britain and travel with their dogs to see them. Doing what the European Union wants us to do imposes an unnecessary medical intervention on animals. We should recognise that, if a disease has not been in a country for 99 years, we do not need to bring in rules to keep it out.”
“Anybody who is out and about will know that businesses say that costs are going up very regularly and that goods that they previously had are not available. That is not good for the people of Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />I encourage my colleague from South Belfast, instead of pursuing the agenda that the protocol and its rigorous implementation are good, to recognise that it is not good and that we need different solutions. I encourage him to support us in getting those solutions by going to the European Union and saying that this is wrong and that it is hurting the people of Northern Ireland. In particular, it is hurting the people who have the lowest incomes and can ill afford to have their food costs driven up as a consequence of the protocol.”
“The argument that the DUP brought this about is nonsense and entirely wrong because it would not matter if every person in Northern Ireland had voted not to have Brexit; the majority in the United Kingdom voted to have it. That was the democratic decision of the country. The question was not, "Do you believe that Great Britain should leave the European Union?"; the question was, "Do you believe that the United Kingdom should leave the European Union?". Therefore, it should be the United Kingdom that leaves the European Union. That leads us to this circumstance. <BR /> <BR />The protocol was put forward as a solution; instead, it is a barrier. The protocol ensures that we do not have the trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland that previously existed. The consequence of that is that it is driving up costs.”
“All those things are entirely achievable if the European Union wants to be entirely reasonable as opposed to being entirely unreasonable.”
“The fundamentals of the protocol relate first to whether it is a democratic action. Does it change the constitution? It does change the constitution. Therefore, if you want to change the constitution, you should ask the people. If the Member is a democrat, he will want to ensure that the people are asked to support the protocol by a referendum or that we remove the protocol and find another means of doing things. <BR /> <BR />There are other means of doing things, and I have made a commitment that I want to find a solution. I believe that solutions exist, and I put one to Maroš Šefcovic last Wednesday. I want to find a solution that will ensure that we protect the single market and will not have barriers on the island of Ireland or in the Irish Sea.”
“We have the skills to do that work. We will continue to work with the Department of Finance to provide the resources. I hear people talk a lot about the environment, so I hope that they will be as good at talking about it when the Department is seeking money to protect the environment and that they will support the case that the Department makes to the Department of Finance to achieve that.”
“That is why it would have been great to have someone like me as Minister over the last few years as opposed to the Assembly crashing and not operating. Those three years were wasted. A consequence of not having devolution is that everybody suffers in Northern Ireland, including the environment.”
“I hope to be able to start that either later in this financial year or certainly in the next financial year.”
“The soil evaluation is critical if we are going to ensure that we can meet the challenges to the environment and ensure that our water quality is as high as possible. The Member represents the Mid Ulster area, which includes a large swathe of Lough Neagh. Lough Neagh has suffered from eutrophication as a consequence of phosphate run-off from the land. Therefore, farmers applying the appropriate amount of phosphates, whether it is through slurry or fertiliser, will be of huge benefit because it will mean that the run-off does not end up in the water and the farms will still get optimal growth. <BR /> <BR />We are looking at a five-year scheme, the cost of which will be £37 million, and we are working up the business case to ensure that we can move ahead with that as quickly as possible.”
“A baseline on Northern Ireland soil status could then be used for spatial nutrient management planning and to inform the development and implementation of future agri-support schemes.”
“<BR /> <BR />A NI-wide programme could provide government with invaluable baseline information for prioritising future interventions. Collectively, the pilots constituted a publicly funded intervention of £2·261 million, in which 1,613 farms, with fields spanning over 49,711 hectares, had soil samples collected and analysed. The results from the piloting approach are helping to inform future direction and policy development in relation to soil health and future farm-support measures. Officials are therefore working on a business case for a potential NI-wide soil nutrient health scheme. That scheme would provide farmers with the nutrient status of their fields, which would assist them to make best practice decisions on nutrient requirements.”
“I am very pleased with the findings of the evaluation of my Department's soil sampling pilot schemes. The pilots included soil collection and analysis over three water catchments — upper Bann, Colebrooke and Strule — and in one open element that was available Province-wide. In addition, lidar risk-mapping was provided to farmers in upper Bann and parts of Colebrooke. <BR /> <BR />The evaluation of the pilots highlighted a number of key findings, including that the provision of individual field information for farmers helped to drive behaviour change in nutrient management practices. Applying nutrients to meet crop need is a central tenet of why soil testing and nutrient management planning are important. Improved nutrient management can contribute to improved water quality and can also have economic benefits for farmers.”
“Working from home has worked to an extent, and there will be a lot of opportunities to work from home, which will be good for reducing our requirement for office buildings and reducing the cost of travel and the impact on the environment. Nonetheless, we need to ensure that we are getting maximum efficiency from our civil servants, and if that involves them coming into work, that is what should happen as opposed to working from home in circumstances where the impact is negative.”
“I suggest that DAERA was probably the most flexible Department in dealing with COVID and in identifying means for people to work from home. We have a lot of experience because we had Ballykelly, Klondyke, Dundonald House and a whole series of buildings where we had digital communication already in place. We were very quick to ensure that people had the equipment to allow them to work from home. With the double vaccination, people are working in bars, restaurants, schools and other places, so getting people back into the Civil Service workplace should be happening. That was raised at the last Executive meeting, and the Civil Service is working closely and in conjunction with what is happening in Whitehall. <BR /> <BR />It is time for a lot of people to come back to the offices again.”
“I do not have the actual figure, but that is now where Forest Service's headquarters are. It has a substantial cadre — it is certainly in three figures — of staff based at Enniskillen. I view that very positively. A lot of DAERA forestry is in the west of Northern Ireland, so having the headquarters there is absolutely rational.”
“There has been an effort from the outset to ensure that employees move to Ballykelly, without forcing people to do it against their will. That has proved to be very successful. As I indicated, the numbers there are a demonstration of its success.”
“Yes, we can do that. That has been the case to this point. It is operating well, and it has good numbers operating in it. We intend to utilise it fully. It is one of our more modern, environmentally friendly and economic buildings to run because it is built to modern standards and specifications. That is certainly something that we will look at for other parts of the estate.”
“Some 250 DAERA staff were located in Ballykelly House when it opened in May 2018. Since then, a further 87 DAERA staff have relocated to Ballykelly, bringing the total to 337. The Department also has plans to relocate a further 54 posts during the 2017-2022 mandate. When filled, that would increase the staff complement to 391. The need to relocate those further posts will remain under review.”
“We have been left with something that, as a consequence of the Troubles, is impacting on our environment and on those young people in particular who want to buy homes in that, in a lot of the towns they would want to buy those homes in, they cannot build the houses because there is not the infrastructure to support them.”
“I suspect that, if you wanted to ensure that that is the case, you would need to give Northern Ireland Water a few billion pounds to spend on infrastructure. That is the reality. For years, we did not spend money on water and sewerage infrastructure. When the Troubles were going, we were paying for police officers' overtime and for rebuilding buildings that had been blown up. There was some investment in roads, schools and hospitals, but there was very little investment in water and infrastructure. I take this right back to the Troubles.”
“The agreement between the Ministers is that it is unacceptable. It would be unacceptable if waste were to travel from Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland as well. There needs to be a good information flow about its taking place. If it is identified that it is taking place, we need to crack down on the individuals who are involved. Waste crime is a lucrative business. People who engage in it are very often engaged in general criminality. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to ensure that we clamp down on that element of criminality. That involves cooperation with our neighbours, and I am happy to cooperate with neighbours on things that are of mutual benefit.”
“The Irish Government have a duty to honour the agreement that was made and repatriate waste that should never have been illegally dumped in Northern Ireland, because they did not do their job right in the first place. If it is not done, it is a matter for us to raise with the European Commission.”
“I do not have the figure for how many similar illegal dumps there are. There were none of the scale of Mobuoy. I know that there were some 20 dumps when I was previously the Minister in 2010. There were some 20 dumps then that involved illegal waste that had come across the border from the Republic of Ireland. I engaged with the Irish Government Minister at that time, Eamon Ryan, and we agreed to repatriate that waste. I was somewhat shocked when I came back into office to find that only around half of that waste had been dealt with and that, 10 years later, there were still around 10 sites where repatriation had not taken place.”
“We have the Mills report; a piece of work that was actioned by the then Minister to identify the issues, problems and solutions. We have followed the recommendations of that report. My focus is to ensure that we provide safety when it comes to drinking water in the River Faughan. Testing is carried out weekly to ensure that the water quality remains good, and it does. We are looking at developing a course of work that will ensure that the waste material that is there is made safe for generations to come. That is where our focus should be; on taking actions that actually deliver something, as opposed to having more and more retrospective looks at what went wrong. We know what went wrong. We have the report that identifies the problems. My focus is on actual delivery, not looking at what the problems were. We know what they were.”
“<BR /> <BR />My Department has put in place a range of legislative, policy and process measures to ensure more effective regulation and enforcement to prevent illegal waste dumping. For example, legislative amendments have been made in the Waste Management Licensing (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 to tighten the requirements around the technical competence required by operators to hold a waste management licence and to expand the list of prescribed offences to be taken into account when determining whether someone is a fit and proper person to hold a waste management licence. The only outstanding recommendation from the Mills report is recommendation 9, which relates to retrospective planning permissions, and that was transferred to the Department for Infrastructure in 2015, along with the planning function.”
“Following the discovery of the illegal waste site at Mobuoy, the then Environment Minister, Alex Attwood, commissioned an independent report from Mr Chris Mills, the former director of the Natural Resources Wales agency, to carry out a review of waste disposal at the Mobuoy site and the lessons learnt for future regulation of the waste industry. <BR /> <BR />The Mills report presented 22 recommendations, 21 of which have been accepted and implemented by DAERA, formerly the Department of the Environment (DOE), with the aim of creating a waste sector in Northern Ireland that complies with the law, protects the environment and underpins resource efficiency. The full report is available on the DAERA web page.”
“and it has been brought about as a consequence of the deal that has been done. Let us be real: more deals will be done with other countries, such as the Mercosur countries, North America and other places. <BR /> <BR />The attitude that the UK Government have to Australia is that Korea and China's growing demand for beef is of such significance that little additional beef or lamb will come from Australia to the UK. That remains to be seen. I made this argument to them. We have a vibrant rural community. We had vibrant coal-mining and car-making communities in the United Kingdom. The consequence of not looking after those industries was widespread unemployment in housing estates and degeneration in those areas. I do not want that happening in our rural communities, so I urged caution on the Australian trade deal.”
“It is probably not beneficial to Northern Ireland food producers. More than likely, it is beneficial to other businesses and industries, but, for Northern Ireland food producers, it will be a challenge. Nonetheless, it is a challenge we will have to rise to”
“Why would I throw that away for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that Sinn Féin tries to bluff the community exists?”
“The "disastrous consequences" are related to the protocol, not to Brexit. The opportunities to sell food to our main market, GB, are stronger now as a consequence of Brexit and because of the issues that will inevitably come about as it becomes more difficult for the EU to export goods to Great Britain. That creates an even better opportunity for us. <BR /> <BR />I remind Members that the country that pays most for beef in the European Union is the United Kingdom. You can chase pots of gold at the end of rainbows elsewhere, but I would rather use the certain market that we have on our doorstep. That market uses exactly the same standards, has the same taxation system and has the same regulatory bodies as us. We have an excellent market there.”
“If the Member is operating under the delusion that having 15,000 checks per week at Northern Ireland ports when the grace periods end is positive for the people of Northern Ireland, he really is living in cloud cuckoo land.”
“I have described the protocol as something that gives us a win, in that we get that export trade. However, in exchange for that single goal scored, we concede about six goals on our imports. The consequence of the protocol is that businesses cannot get the goods in to carry out their manufacturing processes without the delays and additional costs that make them more uncompetitive. The delusion that it is a win-win circumstance is just that: it is an absolute delusion. We are taking a battering as a result of the protocol. That battering is because of our reliance on imports. Over 50% of our imports come from Great Britain, and those are being disproportionately affected.”