Debate contribution: A5 Western Transport Corridor Scheme

Debate contribution by Mr Justin McNulty on 22 September 2025.

MLA

Mr Justin McNulty

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

22 September 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

A5 Western Transport Corridor Scheme

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5124012

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Communities and families across the north-west have been told time and again that the A5 scheme will be delivered, that it will transform connectivity, that it will unlock economic potential and, crucially, that it will make a dangerous stretch of road safer for all who use it, yet here we are, years on, with not a sod having been turned and more families left to grieve loved ones whose lives have tragically been lost on that treacherous road. My heart goes out to every grieving family.

The truth is that communities in the north-west have waited far too long. They have faced delay after delay, legal challenge after legal challenge and excuse after excuse from Ministers and their Executive parties. The Public Accounts Committee warned years ago that the scheme needed to be legally watertight. Those warnings were ignored, and now, yet again, the project is stalled in the courts because Ministers failed to do the groundwork properly. That is unacceptable. It is about more than just bureaucratic incompetence; it has real, human consequences. Every delay risks more lives. I pay tribute to the families who have lost loved ones along the road and to the A5 Enough is Enough campaign. Their determination, courage and dignity has kept the issue at the top of the political agenda. I say this to them: keep going. However, they should not have to beg for action year after year. Government should have delivered the project by now. Those people should not have had to bury more sons and daughters and mothers and fathers while Ministers passed the buck. Sinn Féin's amendment is about themselves alone and about clapping themselves on the back, really. It attempts to absolve them of responsibility and to rewrite history. However, we know the truth: Sinn Féin ignored the Planning Appeals Commission's recommendation. They left the scheme legally vulnerable, and their responsibility for the scheme's collapse has been denied. The amendment is a whitewash, and, therefore, we oppose it. The DUP's amendment blames the Climate Change Act, but that Act did not cause the failure. The problem is not the law but Sinn Féin's failure to integrate environmental requirements into the design and procurement of the scheme. Even if Minister Poots's original 82% target had stood, the A5 project would still have collapsed because the problem was not the numbers in legislation but the sheer ineptitude of Sinn Féin Ministers. Is it true that there was no accommodation or requirement in the tender process or tender documents for recycled materials to be included in the A5 construction project? Who is responsible for that oversight? The people of the north-west can and must be safe and have modern infrastructure and clean air to breathe. The DUP amendment is a diversion, and we will oppose it. The Ulster Unionist Party's amendment at least recognises the need for fairness for landowners and the urgency of road safety, but it, too, fails the real test of accountability. It shifts the focus from where it should be: the repeated failures of Sinn Féin Ministers and their Executive. For that reason, we will oppose it as well. We should not have been in this position in the first place. If Ministers had acted on the warnings that were given to them and ensured that the scheme was legally sound, we would not be here debating yet another delay. We in the Assembly have a duty to the people whom we represent. The Executive must finally make good on their long-overdue promises. Communities in the west deserve the same level of infrastructure investment as has been taken for granted elsewhere. The message today must be clear: no more excuses or prevarication. The A5 scheme must begin construction before the end of the mandate. Lives literally depend on it. People in the north-west have waited too long. Families have endured too much heartache. Businesses have been disadvantaged for too many years. It is not just about a road; it is about fairness. It is about safety and delivering on commitments that should have been honoured long ago. It is time for the Sinn Féin/DUP-led Executive to stop dithering and failing and to finally deliver the A5 western transport corridor (WTC). Enough is enough.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

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

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification