Debate contribution: Regional Balance Bill: Second Stage
Debate contribution by Mr Pádraig Delargy on .
- MLA
- Mr Pádraig Delargy
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 8 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Regional Balance Bill: Second Stage
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5674300
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Thank you. It is not just the Department for the Economy but all Departments — AERA, Infrastructure, Communities and all the others — that should be involved in it. Sinn Féin specifically took on the Department for the Economy to bring tangible and real change to people's lives and undo the economic legacy of 100 years of partition. Regional balance has been an intent, not an accident, in our economic policy. It was followed up by the subregional economic plan, local economic partnerships and the regional balance fund. Those in such areas know best where the change can happen, how it can be driven and how critical it can be. Since Sinn Féin took over the Department for the Economy, at the heart of economic policy has been giving each area a voice and ensuring that local communities are heard and that they are not only a part of policy but are informing and creating it. Growing up in Derry, we were always told that we were moaning, but we were demanding better. I am proud to stand in the House and demand better, because the people of my city deserve better than what they got from 100 years of partition in this country and under successive unionist Economy Ministers. That tide has started to change. Of course, it was never going to change overnight, but we have seen real and tangible change. We now see people who are proud to invest in our city. We saw new jobs at Seagate and Kainos and the largest R&D investment this year in Derry. People have always been proud to be from Derry, but their potential and that of our city are now being recognised nationally and internationally. Look at the Department for the Economy's delivery under Minister Archibald over the past number of years. All of us who sit on the Committee for the Economy know the figures. In Invest's most recent figures, investment outside Belfast was at 59%. Three million pounds a year went to the City of Derry Airport, and there was an increase in student places at Magee of more than 22%. Such policies are not just talking about regional balance but delivering it.
366 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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