Debate contribution: Regional Balance Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Mr David Honeyford on 8 September 2026.

MLA

Mr David Honeyford

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

8 September 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Regional Balance Bill: Second Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5674378

Read the official Assembly record

Text

On behalf of the Alliance Party, I welcome the Bill and thank Sinéad for bringing it to the House. Phillip mentioned that the Committee went to Derry on one of our first trips, and, every time that I have been up there, it has been brilliant. Sinéad, I was reminded of you, Pádraig and Gary, before Julie's time here. Every time that somebody at the Committee said the word "Derry", two of the three were really collegiate. Julie is here, but Gary is not. I listened to his interview, and his voice for Derry, alongside that of the two of you, is missed. We also have Diana giving us the Fermanagh perspective and Diane the south Down perspective, so we do have the regions covered. It is important that we focus on the wider piece. I absolutely support the principles of the Bill, and we need to take a collegiate approach to move it forward rather than be pitted in a battle with one another across the Chamber. Sinéad, thank you for introducing the Bill. Well done. You are an absolute champion for your constituency, and we can all learn from you. Where there are significant differences in economic performance, opportunities and living standards across Northern Ireland, we simply cannot accept them. Where somebody lives should not determine the opportunities that are available to them. As a legislative Assembly, we should be doing something to sort that out. Sinéad has introduced this Bill, so fair play to her. As Pádraig said earlier, achieving regional balance cannot simply be the responsibility of the Department for the Economy. Fundamentally, it relates to infrastructure, skills, education, housing, health, public transport, planning and our energy network. Therefore, I support the principle of the Executive-wide responsibility that Sinéad has brought forward. However, there are areas of the Bill that could be strengthened. I say that to be constructive — I am not in any way criticising the work that you have done. As the Bill progresses through Committee Stage, there is stuff that we can add to it to help. Fundamentally, it comes back to why the disparities exist. That is where we need to start. We need to look at the "why" and work from there, because you cannot decide how to fix regional imbalance if you do not understand the cause of it. Clause 1(3) states that the framework must set out outcomes; identify departmental roles; identify mechanisms; set out criteria and methodology; and set out measurable targets and milestones. All of those are good and reasonable things to do — I agree with all of them — but I would like the framework to be required to identify the principal cause of the regional imbalance, because it is not the same in every region or subregion of Northern Ireland. There is no one regional balance problem. If you look at south Down or Newry, for example, you see that they have major infrastructure, with the A1, M1 and Dublin-Belfast corridor, but Derry, Omagh, Strabane and Fermanagh do not have that. There are differences. We need to diagnose the problem before we get the prescription, and that needs to happen at a local level.

531 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not qualifying

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 16:18 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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