FOLLOWING a decision by the DUP to vote against the implementation of a climate change commissioner in Northern Ireland, First Minister Michelle O’Neill described the move as a ‘dereliction of duty’. 51 MLAs voted in favour of the role, with the DUP and the TUV voting against.
The decision comes in the wake of a debate among MLAs regarding Executive Office regulations to provide powers to appoint a commissioner. The DUP questioned the cost of such an appointment to public finances, estimated to be in the region of £1m a year.
Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly gave her assessment that there was ‘no need’ for the creation of a specific role, which had previously been agreed in a climate change act passed in 2022 by the Stormont Assembly.
The legal duty to recruit and ultimately appoint someone falls within the powers of the first and deputy first ministers, marking the pair’s first fundamental disagreement over policy in some months.
It would be the climate commissioner’s responsibility to preside over what progress has been made by the Executive with regards to meeting net zero greenhouse gas emission targets. First Minister O’Neill said that blanket unionist opposition to the role was ‘illogical’ and that the assembly had a ‘moral duty’ to do its part in the fight against climate change.
Meanwhile, Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said that she had ‘personal concerns’ over cost. She suggested that the estimated budget for the commissioner's office could be better spent on other areas.
UUP MLA Robbie Butler said he thought that the DUP were being ‘penny wise and pound foolish’ and that the role could not be used as a ‘trade off’ for other areas of public spending.
Butler made the comments with regard to the wildfires currently raging in parts of the Mourne Mountains, saying that climate change was behind ‘the fire in those mountains and grassland areas [which] is significantly worse than it was 20 years ago’.
“This is not about climate denial,” he added.
Paula Bradshaw, who currently chairs the Executive Office (TEO) committee, said that the DUP’s opposition came at the ‘last moment’, adding that the plan for a climate change commissioner had already been discussed five times in previous committee sessions.
“You had the opportunity on many occasions to raise these concerns, to ask TEO officials for some guidance and information and you never took that opportunity,” she said.
