Ulster Unionist Party Economy Spokesperson Alan Chambers MLA has said that the Report from the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at Westminster fully vindicates the position of Ulster Unionist MLAs who raised the issue of a threat to security of electricity supply prior to the fall of the Executive.

Alan Chambers MLA said:

“The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee Inquiry and Report into the Electricity Sector completely vindicates the concerns raised at Stormont by the Ulster Unionist Party before the Executive fell.  In particular, the warnings we gave about the threat to security of electricity supply have been reiterated in the Report, which clearly identifies the need for new generating capacity within Northern Ireland.

“When we put forward and debated a motion on this subject at Stormont in November 2016, we faced a hostile reaction from the massed ranks of the then partners in the DUP/ Sinn Fein Executive, who accused us of scaremongering and worse.  Where are those voices of complacency and denial now, when we have another Report which states we are heading to a situation where, if decisions are not made now, we will struggle to keep the lights on after 2021?

“The problem is that we have had energy reports and recommendations before.  Just one example was the Energy and Manufacturing Advisory Group (EMAG) report which contained 24 recommendations and was presented to the Minister at Stormont last April.  Despite repeated questions, no official response has emerged from a Department embroiled in the RHI debacle.  So we have had reports, we have had debates, but we have had no action from government and a vacuum where an energy policy for Northern Ireland should exist.

“Six months have now passed since we passed our motion on Energy Security at the Assembly, and we now have another Report with flashing warning lights attached.  What is worse is that with no Executive currently in place, there is no strategic leadership at all coming from Stormont to plot a way out of the mess successive Ministers of the Economy have sleepwalked us into.”