Debate contribution: Flooding in South Down: Economic Recovery
Debate contribution by Mrs Cathy Mason on .
- MLA
- Mrs Cathy Mason
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 27 February 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Adjournment
- Heading
- Flooding in South Down: Economic Recovery
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4238146
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Go raibh maith agat,
Mr Deputy Speaker. I welcome the opportunity to speak on the flooding in South Down: in Newcastle, Downpatrick, the Mournes and other rural areas. The flooding in Downpatrick was particularly devastating for the town. Despite extremely challenging circumstances, the resilience of our small and family-run local businesses and the community spirit in Downpatrick shone through. Everyone stood shoulder to shoulder and worked together to mitigate the worst effects of the flooding. Sincere thanks must be delivered to those who went above and beyond their role in order to intervene: the Fire Service, council workers, business owners, volunteers and statutory agencies alike. They all came out, united in their efforts to support their town. Our small and family-run businesses have been under severe pressure because of the extensive damage done by the flooding. Despite the very limited interventions by the British Government, it is welcome that the Economy Minister has announced the flood support scheme that opened today. I wholeheartedly thank the Minister, Conor Murphy, who has listened to the voices of local businesses and acted quickly to ensure that they have access to proper funding and support after what has been a challenging time. The announcement comes as a huge relief to business owners in Downpatrick and will hopefully assist them to restore their businesses and continue to open their doors to the community. Our small and family-run traders are the heartbeat of Downpatrick. They have been there for decades, some for generations. Much more work needs to be done, however, to ensure that Downpatrick continues to thrive. I take the opportunity to give credit to the Downpatrick regeneration working group. It has painstakingly created the 'Downpatrick Living High Streets Framework', which outlines a real vision for revitalising the town and the whole community. It is imperative that the council now work diligently and proactively to ensure that applications are processed efficiently and that the funding, worth up to £100,000, can go straight to helping repair damage from the flooding. We also need to see a multi-agency approach to a flood mitigation strategy for Downpatrick town and a flood defence strategy to prevent such instances becoming a living reality. We need interventions to protect the Quoile from bursting its banks again and to prevent further large-scale flooding. We also need to see the Quoile live up to its true potential ecologically and economically. We need the Department for Communities to commit to a regeneration plan for the town, one that focuses on future-proofing Downpatrick, on promoting sustainable tourism product and on long-term economic regeneration. We also need to see interventions for our local sports clubs, which were impacted on by the flooding as well. We want to see a more ambitious emergency flood payment scheme for residents in the likes of Newcastle who have been affected. Along with my Sinn Féin team in South Down, I will continue to work with all parties on behalf of our local businesses to keep Downpatrick thriving. I thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to highlight the topic today.
511 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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