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 5674316
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Totally. I thank the Member for the intervention. The biggest evidence base for that is the fact that people in Derry and other regions across the North are seeing the change, talking about it and feeling it. The fact that the biggest R&D development last year was in Derry, at Seagate, shows that change. The change is tangible and real for people who live across the North, and we are starting to see it come into those communities. My worry is that, if we wait on an all-Executive commitment, we could inadvertently — it is absolutely not the Bill's intention — undermine some of the progress that has been made in individual Departments. We could end up slowing progress that Ministers have made and intend to make. I absolutely support the Bill's Second Stage. I want the Bill to be developed, and I want us as a Committee to work out how that works, but it is something that I am concerned about and want to bring up at this stage. As I have mentioned a few times, the second limitation is the fact that the key reason why the economy of Derry and other border regions has not progressed as much as they should have has been partition. My worry is the implication of leaving out Donegal — the Bill's omission of the South.
Yes.
226 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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