Debate contribution: Regional Balance Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Ms Sinéad McLaughlin on 8 September 2026.

MLA: Ms Sinéad McLaughlin
Party at the time: Social Democratic and Labour Party
Date: 8 September 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Private Members' Business
Heading: Regional Balance Bill: Second Stage
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5674490

Text

Thank you for giving way, Julie, and for your support for the Bill. I reaffirm that the Bill is structured in such a way that every Department has a duty and a responsibility to feed information in. From the outset, the framework will have objectives, and the Executive must say what they want to achieve. There have to be targets, timelines and funding opportunities. It is not a tick-box exercise by any standard. The Bill complements the Rural Needs Act (Northern Ireland) 2016.
In fact, it probably goes a lot further in many ways, in that it includes a commitment to a baseline, targets and review mechanisms. Not including those in the Rural Needs Act was, to be honest, a failure, as the review that took place recently found. This Bill goes much further.

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

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