Debate contribution: Job Creation and Cross-border Cooperation in the North-west

Debate contribution by Mr David Honeyford on 4 March 2025.

MLA

Mr David Honeyford

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

4 March 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Job Creation and Cross-border Cooperation in the North-west

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4833066

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I am happy to support the motion. As Kate said, some of the work is already happening. Last month, I clearly laid out Alliance's position on a shared island, which is about working practically to build and share reconciliation here and across the island. That is our focus. I stated that Alliance wanted to see a shared island approach on key issues that affect us, and our economy is one of those. As an Assembly, we need more detail to enable progress to be made. I will talk through the motion. Sinéad's commitment to her area is absolutely commendable. She talks about regional balance as code for Derry at every Committee meeting. She champions her area, and I commend her for doing so, but we have called for the same collaborative approach to be taken across Northern Ireland. The SDLP is becoming more solely focused on the north-west and seems to be nowhere near as interested in its other Members' constituencies, never mind those of the rest of us. We need a joint task force approach across Northern Ireland and not exclusively for the north-west, but I agree that the north-west is an important part of the total. We all need to see the potential realised. That means working on a shared island basis, building reconciliation as part of a much wider remit.

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. I am not saying that we do not need interventions; I am just saying that there are other areas. You have brought me on to that subject. Look at the deprivation rates of north Belfast or west Belfast. Those areas have some of the lowest incomes, as have the Causeway Coast and Glens area or Newry, Mourne and Down. All I am saying is that there are other areas. The problem is not specific to Derry. My constituency of Lagan Valley has the highest house prices and the highest disposable income but the lowest job availability in the area, and Invest NI has no capability to bring employment to it. We are restricting jobs in my area for the people who live there. Everywhere has problems; I do not deny that. We sit on the Belfast-Dublin economic corridor: if Invest does not focus on my area, we will not see the benefit of that. The investment will go elsewhere, predominantly to the South. We cannot ignore the facts. Northern Ireland is such a small region. I totally agree that we should focus on the north-west and Derry, but we should focus equally on other places such as the Causeway coast. Just as councils have a local development plan, we need a master plan from this place to map out and show where the regions are. The Member talked about fintech and renewables in Derry, and it is the same in Belfast. We also need a map for grid connections and strategic economic zones. We need to know what is happening in Fermanagh. We need a road map and a strategic plan from the Assembly or from the Department for the Economy to show that. It is Opposition day, and the SDLP continually goes on about being a constructive Opposition. I completely agree that there are significant opportunities, and the Member named renewable energy as one. Unfortunately, there are two barriers to that. Neither is tackled, but we need to tackle them. One is grid development, which I have just referenced. We need a plan. There needs to be legislation North and South to allow the connection of wind farms or solar at the quickest and easiest point. The motion is words on a page, but, if EirGrid's grid stops at Sligo or south Donegal and cannot develop any further north without grid connection and we have a grid connection in Derry, surely we should be able to work together to connect and work as a partnership from which everybody will benefit.

No, because I have already given way, and I am running out of time. That is one practical opportunity that could realise potential in the area. The other side of that — I commend the Member for moving the motion and talking about it — is that her party's councillors are opposing it on the council. On one hand, SDLP Assembly Members are bringing forward renewable energy as a campaign and wanting more — I want more — but, on the other hand, the party's councillors are sitting in the council chambers, where they are not the Opposition, and opposing more renewable energy in the area. You cannot talk out of both sides of your mouth. We need to start getting real, as political parties, to deliver change. I cannot agree with the amendment that the Minister —

Not the Minister, the Chair. One day, though: I talk as a prophet. I cannot agree with it. I will give two examples. Coca-Cola has invested in my area. It has 450 jobs and, with dual market access, has just created another 90 jobs because Monster Energy has just brought its energy drinks to Lisburn. The whole factory would have gone South without dual market access. Monster Energy has just invested in Lisburn, and all of the drinks are manufactured there. PRM is another example of a company that is benefiting from dual market access and about to triple the size of its place in Lisburn. There are two examples of what you were asking for.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:03 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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