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

Debate contribution by Mr Matthew O'Toole on 4 March 2025.

MLA

Mr Matthew O'Toole

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour 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 4833333

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. What a useful and interesting debate we have had on the first motion of our SDLP Opposition day on job creation and cross-border cooperation in the north-west. There have been lots of constructive comments and a little bit of sniping. That is fine. We are the Opposition, and we do our own constructive, robust accountability for others, so, as it were, we can take it when others have criticisms for us. That is fine. I will address some of them. Let me start by addressing one of the repeated things that came up a lot in the debate, which is, "Why just Derry?". First of all, this is about the wider north-west, and the motion is very clear about that. We have two excellent representatives for East Derry and West Tyrone, and they will speak today for the wider north-west. We are proud of our party's standing up for the wider north-west, with Derry at its heart, including Strabane, Coleraine and that whole wider region and, indeed, the wider cross-border region. We make no apology for putting this on the agenda here at Stormont today in a way that the north-west has not always been on the agenda at Stormont. I say that as a South Belfast representative but one who has Derry roots. My mum is from Derry. I know that city very well. It is part of me too. There is no contradiction in me being leader of the Opposition, a South Belfast MLA, someone who is originally from County Down and standing up for Derry and the wider north-west. I have no difficulty doing that at all, and I am slightly bemused to hear representatives stand up and say, "Why not this place? Why is the SDLP talking about that? Why is the SDLP talking about this?". We are doing so because it matters. These things matter, and we make no apology for talking about them. I will come on to addressing some of the comments, but I want to set a broader historical and geographic context for why all this matters. The historical context is that, 60 years ago last month, the Lockwood report was published and brought to this Building when it housed the old Northern Ireland Parliament. It failed to deliver a university to Derry — or Londonderry, if you prefer — which is Northern Ireland's second city or the capital of Ireland's north-west or however you prefer to talk about that city. It failed that city at that point. That was part of a longer failure of that city but also the wider region, which includes Strabane and the wider north-west. It was a critical part of the criticism of that old — bluntly — Stormont regime and Northern Ireland Government and, indeed, the situation that had pertained since the partition of Ireland and the creation of Northern Ireland. I am not harping on those as old subjects, but I am clearly willing to set them out as part of the historical context for why we are debating these issues. There is also a geographic context. By the way, however, if you really want a historical context, go back and pick up 'Das Kapital', because the only Irish and, indeed, one the few UK cities mentioned in 'Das Kapital', which was written by Karl Marx, is Derry and its Tillie and Henderson's shirt factory: the industrial and economic lineage. People are looking at me bemusedly, but this stuff does matter. It is a proud city, and we have no qualms about standing up and demanding the best possible future for that city and that region. The wider region has been failed for too long, but it is also doing really well. It has huge potential. It has huge opportunities and brilliant businesses operating in that region. A few people mentioned the city deal and asked why we did not talk about the city deal. It is a bit churlish to pick out every single word that is not mentioned in the motion and complain that it is not there. As Mr Brett acknowledged, we have been strong supporters of the city deal the whole way through. As with every other party in the Chamber, we were determined that that money would be un-paused and that those projects, which will, hopefully, be transformational for Derry and, indeed, Strabane, would be un-paused. The Riverine project is a significant part of that deal too. We were proud and happy to work with other parties in the Assembly to deliver that.

Dual market access is so important, because it is a unique selling point for the region. I am fairly certain — check Hansard — that I was the first Member to use the phrase "dual market access" in the Chamber. Now they are all talking about it. I have been championing it for a long time, as has the SDLP. We are convinced that it can be transformational for our region. Some Members mentioned the remarks of the chief executive of Invest NI. The chief executive of Invest NI and Invest NI more generally are selling that proposition. I am happy to acknowledge what he said in Committee, but he did not say at any point — the DUP can correct me — that there was no ability to sell Northern Ireland on the basis of its dual market access. He acknowledged that, in the few years for which we have had that differential proposition, we have not had those specific investments, but those investments take a long time and are based on political stability. Guess what — hint, hint, DUP — we have not had a lot of political stability in this place. I will move on to some of the other comments. Pádraig Delargy was right to say that investment in the north-west benefits the entire region and, indeed, the entire island of Ireland and that it has to be on a cross-border basis. That it why our motion calls for a cross-border task force. The Prosperity Commission was an absurd group of Brexiteers who were bemused as to why lots of us thought that a hard border on the island of Ireland was a bad idea. When they looked at the north-west, they said grandly that they were satisfied that the wider north-west — Derry and Donegal — was an integrated economic unit. Despite what people say about the awful consequences of the protocol, even that group of English Brexiteers said, "This is one region economically, and the international border in the middle of it does not really represent either its potential or how people live on an everyday basis". That is why we make no apology for suggesting a cross-border task force. I think that Kate Nicholl asked whether that would duplicate the growth partnership: it does not. Look at the example of the Magee task force: we commended the Minister for creating it. Creating a focused, concentrated task force — the clue is in the name — that operates on a time-limited basis with a remit to suggest focused policy levers is a different intervention from an ongoing growth partnership, albeit the north-west growth partnership does important work, and we commend it and, obviously, work with it. As I said, Pádraig said that north-west investment benefits the whole island: he is right. He also talked about the importance of cross-border economic policymaking: I agree with him. That is why I am depressed to see that Sinn Féin Ministers did not get more of that into the Programme for Government. Sinn Féin Ministers control all three major economic Departments — the Economy Department, the Finance Department and the Infrastructure Department — in the region. You would not think that from reading the document, because it has the fingerprints, I am afraid, of DUP policymaking on it. In fact, at page 85, it puts the North/South Ministerial Council and InterTradeIreland, which were created by the Good Friday Agreement and are underpinned by international law, on the same footing as the East-West Council and Intertrade UK, which are organisations that came out of a grubby secret deal between the DUP and the Tory Government. They are not the same as cross-border bodies created by the Good Friday Agreement, and it was depressing to read that in the Programme for Government. While I acknowledge that Pádraig was right in what he said, it was disappointing not to see more of it in the Programme for Government. Maurice Bradley talked about delivering for Coleraine. We want to deliver for Coleraine . I have a colleague who stands up for Coleraine every day in the Chamber. There is nothing in our motion that suggests that we do not want delivery for Coleraine too; indeed the wider north-west is what the motion is about. That includes Coleraine, Strabane, Letterkenny and Gaoth Dobhair

. It includes all of those places, because that is one economic unit, and we want to see it reach its full potential. The Minister talked about many of the positive investments and developments: I welcome that. I also acknowledge that the Economy Minister is in Berlin, selling dual market access. I hope that, now that we know that, we will get an update from her and can hold her to account. Hopefully, she will deliver that. I welcome that. It is good that, finally, we have a Minister who is championing our dual market access. Gary Middleton moved his party's amendment, which, I am afraid, we will not support, and was proud to stand up for the city that he represents and calls "home". Political differences aside, lots of people acknowledge that Gary cares intensely about his city. Lots of us care about it, but we also care about the wider north-west region. That is why we want to agree the motion and see more focused action from the Executive. That is not because we think that the Executive have not done anything for Derry or, indeed, other regions in this place but because we want more of it. There has been a little bit of J D Vance today — "You should be grateful for what you have got" — as if the people of Derry and the north-west should say, "Thank you" for all that they have had: no. People of the north-west want more for their future, and they are exactly right to demand that. We in the SDLP Opposition will always stand up for them and everyone in the region. I commend the motion to the House.

1,763 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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