Debate contribution: Knockmore Line to Belfast International Airport
Debate contribution by Mr Trevor Clarke on .
- MLA
- Mr Trevor Clarke
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 16 September 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Adjournment
- Heading
- Knockmore Line to Belfast International Airport
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5112001
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank my colleague from South Antrim for securing the debate tonight. I will look at the clock and wish that we could go back in time because I will go back in time. I came here in 2007, and this matter has been debated and debated. One of my colleagues said to me today, when we were talking about this, that the Member who secured the debate tonight took the motion to council about 10 years ago, where it commanded the support of the council at that time. Indeed, when Dr McCrea, Paul Girvan and many others were here, there was cross-party support for many years. I did a search today, and I could detect questions going back to 2009 on this, so it goes without saying that everyone, universally, has historically supported this. However, there has never been action, which is disappointing. I will not blame the current Minister, but I will call on her to stop the delay by others and bring this to a success story. I listened to the previous Member who spoke about some aspects, and much was made of the benefits. One of the benefits that struck me when I was listening to him — I do not want to repeat a lot of what has been said, so I am trying to pick out new stuff — is that, historically, the airport has had an issue with its workforce because of its location. There is no doubt that, if we had a reasonable connection between the airport and Lisburn, Glenavy, Crumlin and Antrim — all of those areas — it would open up interest in jobs at the airport and would make for a viable way of transport for the people in any of those areas where there are jobs waiting for them. I have heard that, historically, even in north Belfast, there has been an issue with getting workers because of the logistical problem of getting them to and from work. As has been said, the train line is there; we are all aware of it, and we are aware of the cost of maintaining it; indeed, some of my constituents have expressed concern about some of the dangerous elements of the train line, and that has always been adhered to. When you drive up the Dublin Road to the airport, therefore, it seems strange to see the disused railway. It goes without saying that the benefit to the airport is greater than jobs. Someone referenced the connection with the rail links to the City Airport: we have not got that, and we are the worse for it. Unlike many others in the Chamber, I do not travel much, but, no matter where you go to on the mainland, there are good connections to the towns and cities from each airport, whether by buses, trains or, indeed, trams in some cases. We are badly served with all those, so there is a real opportunity. There was a bit of blue-sky thinking at one point when Ballymartin was opened. Ballymartin was a real necessity. You can see its success when you look at the numbers of people who use it daily, but we failed to connect the railway to it. We have the park-and-ride, but people use it to commute when they could be commuting on a train rather than depending on a bus. There is an essential need for the Minister, the Department and the whole Executive, because it will take a bit of collective responsibility to drive this forward. I am not laying it all at your feet, Minister, but there would be a real benefit to South Antrim and more widely to Lisburn and other areas. If the vision and will were there, the line could be delivered. I am not sure how many of us will be here in the next mandate, but I will tell you one thing that is for sure: it is depressing that we have been talking about this for so long. As I heard in yesterday's debate, we are creating roads and footpaths to unnecessary destinations, but one thing is for sure: the International Airport is necessary. It is the largest airport that we have in Northern Ireland. It can cope with the larger flights and could cope with much more, but we do not have the connectivity. While I am on my feet, Minister, I will add a comment that has been made in previous conversations. The other thing that we have not got from that airport — I am here to talk about the rail link — is decent road infrastructure to connect it to the M2. If we want to look at the whole picture, it is the rail link and a connection between Belfast International Airport and the M2. I commend John for securing the debate.
807 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.02 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.91).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.91 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.02 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.99 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:16 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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