Debate contribution: Retaining and Inspiring Young Talent

Debate contribution by Mr David Honeyford on 24 June 2024.

MLA

Mr David Honeyford

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

24 June 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Retaining and Inspiring Young Talent

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4497575

Read the official Assembly record

Text

As my party's spokesperson on the economy, I will come at this from the economic perspective. Our economy has been in deficit since the 1930s. Something has to change. We can no longer continue year on year to do the same thing and, effectively, need to be bailed out each year. A region of lack, with its people moving away, is not one that I want to live in, nor do I want future generations to go through that. We should work for better and give the next generation hope for a better future. That includes better job opportunities and wages, and the belief that this place is one where everyone can prosper, have a good job and make the most of the opportunities that are in front of them. That is the key issue.

There is a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation here: to grow our economy, we need an educated workforce; to attract new investment and jobs, we need skills at the other side of that. Also, importantly, our young people and student population need to see the opportunities and career opportunities in which they can thrive. That is key. I do not see going away to study — having opportunities to study in Scotland, England, Wales or the Republic — as the problem. It is more about having a thriving economy here that attracts them to come back to careers and job opportunities that enable them to see their future here.

The motion describes the issue, but, fundamentally, I am disappointed that it offers no hope. It is just words of regret and negativity without any words of vision or direction that we can debate. Furthermore, the motion does not mention apprenticeships. Last week, I had a group of students in my office. We threw this to them; that is one of the first things that they read. There are so many apprenticeship opportunities for them in England, particularly, and they are not referenced. A greater number of apprenticeships leads to more careers, so young people are lost to our economy. That has been missed in the motion. I would love to be debating solutions and looking at what we can do to improve our economic outlook. That would be a healthy debate.

Yes.

I said that the motion was negative because it uses the words "negative" and "regrets". There is no solution other than asking somebody else to come up with a strategy. There is nothing here for us to debate. You are the Opposition, Matthew. You declare yourself as the Opposition. Come with things that —.

Sorry, Mr Deputy Speaker. The Opposition should bring forward stuff that we can debate, not give us stuff that we can read ourselves. We know the problem. I want to look at solutions. I can look at my experience. I have two kids, both at university. My son has just finished his degree in Loughborough, England. That has been a brilliant experience for him. It has been a time to grow. Thankfully, he is one of the 30% who will return. He comes home tomorrow. If you ask my wife about that on Wednesday, she might regret that part of it.

He is attracted home by friends, sport and community, but, centrally, he is starting a new career opportunity in Belfast. That is his reason for coming back. The problem is not that he went away; the going away has been positive. He spent time away from here, and he was able to shape himself and be around different cultures and opinions that shape your outlook. My daughter has just finished her first year at Trinity in Dublin, so I am pure Alliance, with one in England and one in the South. I could talk you through all of the problems in the CAO entry process for students to the Republic's universities and what needs to be changed to increase opportunities for our students. I could do that all day long. The problem is that the motion does not give us the opportunity to do that; it just says, "Go and do this". Recently, I heard the stat that, pre1998, approximately 10% of students at Trinity College were from Northern Ireland; today, it is less than 1%. There is obviously a problem, and it is restricting opportunities for our young people to gain entry to the South's universities. Something needs to happen. We have a motion that is without solutions or ideas and an amendment that tries to remove more opportunities for our young children, which is also disappointing. I will throw in one solution. I have talked in the Chamber many times about reforming our further education colleges and looking at the technical university model that we have seen in other parts of Europe. That would increase skills and opportunities and provide a serious alternative to the research university model that we have. Technical universities would give opportunities for everybody, not provide just academic learning. It is hard to debate that when the motion simply calls for a strategy. Again, I say that the motion does not offer detail. I agree that there is an issue and that we need to look at our economy and how to grow it, but we should be solution- and delivery-focused and should debate policies and solutions.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:48 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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