Debate contribution: Investment Strategy for Northern Ireland

Debate contribution by Mr Matthew O'Toole on 14 October 2025.

MLA

Mr Matthew O'Toole

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

14 October 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Investment Strategy for Northern Ireland

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5180626

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I detected a slight note of ennui when you called me. Perhaps you have heard some of my arguments previously. I say that in the nicest possible way: I am not challenging the Chair. The point that I have been making in my remarks is about delivery. I make no apology at all for being robust when talking about delivery. I was slightly intrigued to hear colleagues from the DUP and Sinn Féin accuse me of playing politics. Of course, no Sinn Féin or DUP politician ever does that. Look: mea culpa. I am happy to stand accused of petty politicking by Sinn Féin and the DUP. I will respond to some remarks that were made. It was actually a really constructive debate, and there is a lot to which I want to respond. Nicola Brogan accused me of political point-scoring. I will just make one big point: we are the Opposition in the Chamber. There is an Opposition in Dublin. They are led by Uachtarán Shinn Féin, Mary Lou McDonald. Some people up here, including in Sinn Féin, seem to think that this place is not really entitled to have an Opposition or an accountability mechanism. That is nonsense: if opposition is good enough for Irish people in one part of the island, it is good enough for people in the North. I make no apology for that; none whatsoever. I am happy to give way, yes.

With the greatest of respect, that is absolute nonsense. We have produced loads of papers. I have heard that repeatedly from you and your colleagues, but, just because you say that we have not suggested alternatives, it does not mean that that is the case. I see lots of videos on social media of extraordinarily effective and robust Opposition politicians, including Pearse Doherty and Mary Lou McDonald. If it is legitimate for them to be robust in critiquing the Irish Government —.

I will give way in one second. If it is legitimate for them to be robust in critiquing the Irish Government, it is also my job to critique this Executive, and I make no apology for doing that on behalf of Irish people and, indeed, British people who live here.

I absolutely agree with you that that reality does have to be considered. The two are not exactly the same, but the Executive do have some power. Otherwise, Sinn Féin Ministers would not have taken the Pledge of Office and would not have their ministerial cars and take their salaries. There is power here, although not as much. You and I want a new Ireland. We want a republic for the whole thirty-two counties on this island. Let me be clear, however, that there are powers that exist in the here and now. Otherwise, why would Sinn Féin take up ministerial office? I am going to talk about some of that now. Nicola Brogan made a really important point earlier, and I want to hear more about it. I was pleased to hear her mention the role of the European Investment Bank in the all-island strategic rail review. I will be pressing the Minister for Infrastructure to tell us more about that, because we have called for the EIB to play a wider role in infrastructure in the North. I would like to hear more from the Infrastructure Minister. I would also like to hear more from the Finance Minister about how he sees the EIB playing a role in helping us deliver on our priorities. I want to see ambition, so I make no apology for pressing Sinn Féin Ministers, who, like me, want to see a new Ireland and who, apparently, want to see more all-Ireland cooperation and delivery. Let us see it. Let us be as ambitious as possible, because it is true that, as Paula Bradshaw said, compared with what we have seen from the national development plan in Dublin, delivery up here has been paltry. It has been derisory. Before Members say that that plan has come from a sovereign Government who are running a massive surplus, I will say it: it has come from a sovereign Government who are running a massive surplus. That is one reason that lots of rational people are thinking about a new Ireland. It is also the case, however, that we have power up here. Yes, it is more limited, and, yes, we have more limited funding, but we do have power. To maximise the limited resource that we have, we need a strategy, and Paula acknowledged that. I am glad to hear that the Alliance Party is going to support our motion, notwithstanding the fact that it would not have worded it in precisely the way in which we have done. Phillip Brett said multiple things about the motion. He at least acknowledged that it includes some things with which he agrees. He did not like the flagship projects that we selected for inclusion. As I said to him in an intervention, insert your own flagship projects. We have inserted ones, but we could have inserted others, such as the York Street interchange. I would like to know whether that is still is an Executive flagship project. He criticised Nichola Mallon's actions. There is a context to those actions. Let us hear whether the York Street interchange will be in the investment strategy. Let us hear whether it is going to be delivered. It is the same with lots of other priorities, but we do not know about them, and that is because we have not seen the investment strategy. I therefore have no idea about them. Do not criticise the Opposition for asking about them. I would love to hear more about the NI Football Fund. I am sure that the football club in the Member's constituency that is taking his ministerial colleague to court — Crusaders — would also like to hear more about it. I am happy to give way if he wants to intervene.

I have certainly read the Programme for Government. I know that I am not supposed to use props, but I will discreetly display the Programme for Government document. In fact, I have both the draft Programme for Government and the final version with me. I did read them, and it did not take me that long to do so, because there is not much in them. I am happy to acknowledge that I did read the documents, however. Robbie Butler talked about assigning blame. He is not in the Chamber at the minute, but that is fine. That we are assigning blame is a nonsense criticism, with the greatest respect to Robbie, who said some very interesting things in his contribution. Assigning blame is literally the job of the official Opposition. It is not about blame but about accountability. That should be clear in any democratic society. Fundamentally, we tabled our motion in order to get the Executive to publish their plans so that we can hold them to account. The investment strategy will not be comprehensive, and it will not be able to solve all the problems. As Kate Nicholl said, you first need a plan to guide you. A road map is needed, and that is all that we are asking for in our motion. Kate also said that she would have liked net zero to be mentioned more in the motion. That is fair enough, but it is implied in, for example, our illustration of the need for more progress to be made on the all-Ireland strategic rail review. We could have included in the motion something about the need for more development of our energy infrastructure on an all-island basis and, indeed, on an east-west basis. If we are going to decarbonise, we need greater connections to Britain and to the Republic. Again, we want to hear more from the Economy Minister and the Infrastructure Minister about such delivery. Something else that we need to see in the investment strategy is information on how we are going to deliver on our climate targets. How are we going to meet electricity demand for the economy that we want to grow in order to create sustainable jobs? Those are all things that should be in the investment strategy, which we have not seen yet.

It was brilliant to hear Timothy Gaston talk with passion about economic development in his constituency. More of that please, Timothy. I agree. I would love to see measures to support North Antrim and all other constituencies in an investment strategy. I welcome the junior Minister Joanne Bunting to ministerial office. She is certainly a person of substance, and I hope that she brings some of that to getting an investment strategy over the line. Given that I have given, as it were, to use a colloquial expression, a bit of a touch to the Sinn Féin Ministers, I should give a bit of a touch to the DUP Ministers, too, because she talked about getting it right and not, effectively, spinning to the public about what could be delivered. Here is the thing: two successive DUP Education Ministers have promised big things on delivering schools. A few years ago, when she was Education Minister, Michelle McIlveen promised lots of schools a new school, including schools in my constituency, such as St Joseph's on the Ravenhill Road, and said that they would be added to the list, with no clarity on how that would be funded or when it would be built. They are still waiting, along with loads of other schools across the North. The current Education Minister came to the Assembly a few weeks ago and talked about a billion-pound investment in special educational needs. We would, of course, love to see that. He put that number and his plan for what he wanted to invest and create in SEN provision out there without any clarity on how that would be budgeted for or when it would be delivered. That is exactly the kind of thing that we need to see: a multi-year Budget and an investment strategy. I do not know how we will get there without a plan.

Very briefly, because I am coming to the end of my remarks.

You are talking about a specific project. We do not hold those Ministries now. You have made your point.

You are in government.

I say to the Members and to the Executive parties here: we have established that we are in opposition and you are in government. We accept that reality. You should accept the reality that you have the power now to build something and to deliver something: deliver a proper waste water system that grows social homes; deliver new schools, including for special educational needs; deliver all-island strategic rail that can reconnect our island; deliver Casement Park; and deliver the life-saving A5. Build those things.

Build those things. Do not shout at the Opposition for holding you to account for them. You have the power. Yes, it is limited, but it is there. You will have a multi-year Budget later this year. It will give you the opportunity. If the Sinn Féin Finance Minister does not think that we have enough resources — I agree with him — let us hear how he wants either to raise revenue or to look for new fiscal powers from London so that we are not just reliant on the block grant in order to build the future on this island that we want. Do not just blame others. Do not just blame others. Do not just project your anger on to the public or the Opposition. Get out there and build something. Build something. Build something. I commend the motion to the Assembly.

1,967 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:35 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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