Debate contribution: Financial Support for Rural Communities in Mid Ulster

Debate contribution by Ms Diana Armstrong on 12 November 2024.

MLA

Ms Diana Armstrong

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

12 November 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Adjournment

Heading

Financial Support for Rural Communities in Mid Ulster

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4658863

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I thank the Member for securing the Adjournment debate. I am obviously not a Mid Ulster constituent, but part of my constituency falls into the mid-Ulster area. Like other Members here, I represent a rural constituency: Fermanagh and South Tyrone. There are many parallels between Mid Ulster and Fermanagh and South Tyrone: their rural peripherality, location, isolation, health inequalities, deprivation and access to services. Members have rightly referenced the significant hardships that rural communities face. That is no less so following the announcement in the recent Budget on the agricultural property tax and the non-replacement of funding for the single farm payment, which has been referenced. Those issues loom large on the minds of many dwellers in rural communities. This evening, I will address what is going on in rural communities in a more holistic fashion. Members have touched on many of the issues that I was going to address. Critically, however, access to services in those communities matters. The rural communities in mid and south-west Northern Ireland see services being stripped away. They see the closure of banks and small indigenous businesses; the challenge of securing funding to support rural transport, as has been mentioned; and the encroaching degradation of towns and villages through closures and lack of rejuvenation support. All those issues impact heavily on those living in rural areas and, indeed, on the ability to attract investment to support the agricultural economy. Those services are critical to promoting rural regions as attractive and affordable places to live, work and raise families. With the agricultural property inheritance tax relief being removed, we really do not want to see farmers leaving mid-Ulster, an area rich in produce. Fair and equitable funding needs to be provided so that a regional balance can be evidenced for those areas. Without funding to promote and sustain vibrant rural communities, we will see further closures of GP practices and small schools, which are anchors for rural residents. Rural transport is a major issue. Without rural community transport networks, lots of people just would not get to appointments, whether they be medical, personal or for socialising. It is vital that rural transport services are supported adequately with guaranteed funding. Connecting rural communities with central services in the most time-efficient way can be delivered effectively only with further investment in upgrading rural roads. There are many cross-cutting and cross-departmental issues. I have been told that, depending on timings, it can take up to seven hours for someone leaving Cookstown to visit Antrim Area Hospital. An emergency transfer from Enniskillen to Altnagelvin Area Hospital can take two and a half hours. Notwithstanding that, I acknowledge that the Mid South West growth deal will improve infrastructure in the west, with the Cookstown and Enniskillen bypasses now receiving the go-ahead and the skills development and innovation projects that will come through with the Mid South West deal. The reopening of the TRPSI rural micro-grants is welcome. That will be well received in the community and, I imagine, heavily oversubscribed, as the first tranche was. It is welcome for community projects to sustain and keep community life at the heart of the area. However, that funding falls far short of the previous EU funding under the European regional development fund, such as the LEADER projects that others have mentioned, which provided valuable capital and technical support for small businesses in rural areas and for community and sporting organisations. I was involved in a LEADER project and saw at first hand how that funding enabled businesses to grow. Without it, the survival of indigenous businesses would have been jeopardised. Many businesses owe their survival to that funding investment, and it is imperative that DAERA step forward with similar rural business funding schemes as a successor to EU funding programmes. The publication of the subregional economic plan is welcome, with its promise to deliver balance and equitable investment, particularly to rural regions. The plan will provide investment to indigenous industries to increase money coming back into rural economies to support families and small businesses. I support the Member's call for more financial assistance for mid-Ulster, as there is much work to be done.

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

Assessment

Not qualifying

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:33 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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