Northern Ireland Assembly’s Committee for the Economy seeks views on energy legislation

Session: Session currently unavailable

Date: 29 May 2026

Reference: CfE 03/25/26

The Assembly’s Committee for the Economy is seeking feedback on two proposed bills that may, if passed, help move Northern Ireland away from fossil fuels and towards cleaner, more renewable energy sources.

The Committee has launched a call for evidence for the Petroleum Exploration and Licensing (Repeal) Bill, which will permanently end the granting of licences for petroleum exploration, including fracking.

Views are also being sought for the Utility Regulator (Support for Decarbonisation Preparation) Bill, designed to give the regulator more powers to advise the Department for Economy on developing net zero energy policies essential to the Climate Change Act (NI) 2022 and the Executive’s energy strategy.

Each call for evidence invites anyone with an interest in the legislation to submit their views online. The results will be considered along with evidence from individuals and groups who will appear before the Committee over the coming months.  The Committee will submit reports summarising their scrutiny of both bills to the Assembly in the autumn.

Economy Committee Chairperson Phillip Brett, MLA, said:

“Launching our calls for evidence for the Petroleum Exploration and Licensing (Repeal) Bill and the Utility Regulator (Support for Decarbonisation Preparation) Bill will give people an opportunity to submit their views. Both Bills relate to changes required to help move towards more environmentally-friendly sources of energy, important for meeting the targets set out by the Climate Change Act and the Executive’s energy strategy. Collecting feedback from a broad range of contributors helps ensure our scrutiny of the legislation is thorough and informed, so I would encourage anyone who is interested in these issues to complete the online consultation.”

ENDS

For any media enquiries, please contact: Maureen Heaney, Communications Office, Northern Ireland Assembly. Email: maureen.heaney@niassembly.gov.uk or phone: 074 8349 0870.

 

Notes to editors