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 5674423

Text

I am not trying in any way to criticise what is here; I am trying to say that these are the things that can explicitly make the Bill better. This is nothing to do with constitutional politics — I live to make the place better; that is my entire focus — but there is an explicit case for collaboration with the Irish Government and appropriate North/South cross-border bodies to develop the framework. There is a practical reason for that, which is that the Irish Government are already investing, through the Shared Island initiative, in projects intended to improve connectivity and economic opportunity across the island. If the Irish Government are already doing that, there has to be a mechanism in the Bill to ensure that the two align so that we are not doing one thing while the Irish Government are doing another. There needs to be alignment. Separately from significant investment, the regional economic plans across the border need to be brought together with ours. It is not about constitutional politics; you have raised that. I am not interested in that; I am interested in practical outworkings that can make life better for ordinary people who live on either side of the border. I am concerned about people who live in Northern Ireland and the ability to share data. We should all be sharing and collaborating on planning as well. That would give us a much more ambitious outlook when looking at what regional balance can mean.
That is what I am saying, Pádraig: it needs to be part of the Bill so that, when money is being spent to build the A5, for example, it is all connected. The Executive here and the Irish Government should have the same understanding of that and be able to look at the regional balance piece as one. Effectively, rather than looking at an infrastructure piece in the North half of the island and doing less with less, we would be maximising the investment that we can deliver for people here. It should not just be about where a business is physically located; we should ask how somebody could get to a job there. How can people get to the public services, such as a health appointment, or whatever it might look like? We are focusing on an economic perspective, but it is much wider than that, and it applies to education and right across. We are a small region on a small island, and we must improve our road and rail connections, especially in the west, where that is missing. The business case from the all-island rail review that stacks up is the Portadown to Derry line through Omagh and Strabane. We need to look at that as part of the wider piece. Newry and Dundalk are not peripheral places for Northern Ireland; they are in an economic corridor to Belfast that is essential. The north-west route to Donegal is the same, through Cavan, Monaghan and Fermanagh, as I have said. We also need to make sure that we are not forcing investment away from Belfast and the greater Belfast area. I thank the Member for not using the Belfast metropolitan area plan (BMAP) in the Bill. She has done it using regions, and that is important. My constituency of Lagan Valley has no land for Invest to use for inward investment and to bring jobs to my area, and, because it sits in the greater Belfast area, there is no likelihood of that happening because the concentration is on giving numbers to somewhere else. Is someone who lives in Aghalee or Ballinderry really in Belfast? I appreciate that the Member has broken that down in the Bill.
This is a conversation. Go for it.
Colin —.
Mr Deputy Speaker, with respect, I was speaking to clause 7 of the Bill, which is about how the regions are broken down. I was not really talking about Invest NI; I was talking about how investment works out if you do not look at the regions. I support the Bill's proceeding. Alliance wants the Bill to come through and deliver. We will do whatever we can to enhance and help with the Bill, because, ultimately, regional balance should not be about government deciding where businesses ought to locate; it should be about creating the conditions for businesses to locate and invest wherever they want to go. Every young person should have the opportunity to live in their own community, to grow up and work in that community and to thrive and prosper there. I thank Sinéad for bringing the Bill forward. We fully support the Bill, and, if we can be of any help, we are here to do that. I look forward to seeing the Bill progress.

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

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