Debate contribution: Road Maintenance Strategy

Debate contribution by Mr Justin McNulty on 15 September 2025.

MLA

Mr Justin McNulty

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

15 September 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Road Maintenance Strategy

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5100264

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Once again, we find ourselves debating a motion in the Assembly about the state of our roads, but this time the irony is impossible to ignore. The motion tabled by the DUP highlights the serious issues with road maintenance across the North that have been mounting for years, and yet here are the DUP: talking about urging action when it is a leading party in the Government with the power to deliver change. It is baffling that the DUP, a party that sits at the Executive table, uses the Assembly to propose non-binding motions, instead of taking real, decisive action to address the issues. The DUP has had years to fix the deteriorating road network, yet, on its watch, nearly 107,000 potholes were recorded last year alone. How many more times do we need to call for action before the DUP stops playing games and starts to take responsibility? If the DUP was truly serious about fixing our roads, it would not be grandstanding with motions like this. It members would be at the Executive table with their Sinn Féin, UUP and Alliance Executive colleagues, working to deliver a comprehensive and effective road maintenance strategy in collaboration with industry. People deserve better than this tomfoolery. It is time for the DUP to stop wasting time and get on with the job of governing. Enough of the motions and rhetoric: let us see some real action for once. On 30 July, the Minister asked the industry what it would need to keep operating in the short term. She was told that it needed a £15 million to £20 million stopgap and further funding before Christmas. The Mineral Products Association, the representative body for the roads industry, met the DFI on Friday past, and the feedback that I have received is that it was just another talking shop. The roads industry explained the dire situation that it faced in the coming months. The view of the industry was that the Department just sympathised. It said that it hoped to get some funding in the October monitoring round but that depended on the Finance Minister. It thought that there should be moneys drawn in from the A5 project, but that that would go to the Finance Minister, who would decide where those moneys were to be allocated. The Department hoped to canvass for moneys from the A5 to stay in Infrastructure. It is sad and alarming that both the industry and the Department recognised that moneys intended for the construction of the A5 will not now be spent on it and are presently lobbying to have that money spent on road improvements elsewhere. The roads industry has capacity at the moment to spend much more than the stated £15 million to £20 million, but time is running out fast. The motion generalises the problems of road maintenance funding but does not recognise or identify the urgency and importance of funding for the safeguarding of the 500-plus jobs that are at risk and, of course, safety on our roads and pavements, which are used by everyone in the North of Ireland. The roads network services all other public and private sector authorities and businesses, and it is in a critical state of disrepair. The Department for Infrastructure's human resource issues are also critical, and the industry was told at the meeting on Friday that the Department hoped to see those resolved in the next two to three years due to new apprentices coming on board.

Is that rationale not naive, however, as surely it will not cure the problem, especially when it is anticipated that another 40% of its staff will be lost in the next few years through natural retirement? At that same meeting, the Mineral Products Association informed the DFI team that the morale of its staff on the ground is at rock bottom, with the dire ongoing uncertainty equating to a working environment in which many highly qualified, experienced and hard-working staff cannot wait to jump ship. Who could blame them? A few of them expressed to a leading contractor that they will get out as soon as possible.

On where the industry resource is at at present, there is capacity to spend much more than it expects to be allocated, but that will soon change dramatically, as tough business sustainability decisions have to taken in the next month or so. People will be let go. One of the main quarry and road contractors has 80 fewer staff than it had this time last year. How does that impact on road maintenance and on the state of disrepair? The Minister has to realise that the industry cannot turn the tap off and on every six months or so. It is unreasonable and unfair to expect it to be on board and ramp up its staffing complement on the whim of the Department for Infrastructure. The industry simply cannot continue to subsidise apprentices, who are crucial for the industry's sustainability, and they will certainly not receive any worthwhile learning. Yes, we support the motion, but we also support backing a motion declaring that the sky is blue. We know what the problem is. The question is this: what are you going to do about it?

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:10 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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