Debate contribution: Regional Balance Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Dr Caoimhe Archibald on 8 September 2026.

MLA: Dr Caoimhe Archibald
Party at the time: Sinn Féin
Date: 8 September 2026
Type: Debate contribution (made as a minister)
Business: Private Members' Business
Heading: Regional Balance Bill: Second Stage
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5674621

Text

Thank you, a Phríomh-Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I really welcome the opportunity to contribute to the Second Stage debate on the Regional Balance Bill. At the outset, I want to congratulate the Bill sponsor. I very much appreciate the effort that she has put in to get the Bill to this stage. I think that it is fair to say that we each respect the emphasis and priority that the other has placed on the particular issue of regional balance. The objective of greater regional balance has been included in the Executive's Programme for Government. It is one of my four priorities as Economy Minister. Within my Department, we now have Invest NI targets for delivering investment outside of greater Belfast. We have delivered a 22% increase in student numbers at the Magee campus, with a record number of students in the last academic year, and a 12% increase in student numbers at the Coleraine campus of Ulster University. We launched new branding to encourage visitors to Fermanagh through the Hidden Heartlands campaign. Early results from that are really encouraging. We now have local economic partnerships in all council areas across the North. Project Gigabit delivers gigabit-capable broadband to premises that would not be commercially viable otherwise and has already connected more than 3,800 premises. Median weekly pay for full-time employees was highest in Belfast and lowest in Causeway Coast and Glens across 2024 and 2025. Mr Bradley referred to that earlier. While I agree with some of what Mr Bradley said, I disagree on a point that I have raised with him previously. The fact is that I certainly have an emphasis on the East Derry constituency and Causeway Coast and Glens from my perspective as MLA for the constituency and as Economy Minister. In 2024, the gap between Causeway Coast and Glens and Belfast was 21·8%. Over the year, with the emphasis that we are placing on regional balance and narrowing those gaps, that had closed by two percentage points. There is a long way to go — absolutely — but we are seeing signs of progress. Regional imbalances are deeply entrenched, as we all know. It will take years of steady work to overturn them. That is why I strongly support the aims and principles of the Bill. Earlier today, I met the Bill sponsor, Sinéad, and gave her my commitment that I will work constructively with her and my ministerial colleagues to ensure that the Bill delivers on its intended policy direction. I have recommended to the Executive that we support the Bill with some amendments — Sinéad and I had the opportunity to talk about some of those today — to ensure that the Bill is fit for purpose and that Ministers are empowered to drive regional balance forward rather than creating new vetoes. There has been discussion about that issue in the Chamber today, including about where the obligations and responsibilities should sit. I am sure that we will come back to that discussion. There needs to be an obligation on every Minister, and I am open to discussing how we bring that together to ensure that any new processes help officials to develop policy better and deliver better public services rather than slowing down public administration with unnecessary bureaucracy or, worse, more scope for legal challenge, with all the cost and delay that that entails. We should also ensure that the Bill supports rather than cuts across some of the existing duties, such as our equality duties and those under the Rural Needs Act. Again, Sinéad and I had the opportunity to discuss that earlier.
I thank the Member for her intervention. I agree with her that, if we place statutory duties on any body, there is always the risk of judicial review, as there should be, because that is the whole point of putting legal duties on bodies, Departments and other agencies. It is about getting the balance right and ensuring that what we are asking those Departments and bodies to do actually delivers the outcomes that we are trying to achieve. That is what we collectively need to try to achieve, and I am certainly very willing to work with you as we progress through the various stages of the Bill. Obviously, the Bill will go to the Committee now, and I gave the commitment today that my officials will work with you and the Committee as the Bill progresses, and I will work with Executive colleagues to try to shape it into something that delivers exactly what we all want it to deliver: better and greater regional balance for all the areas that we represent. I wish you very well with the Bill.

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

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