Debate contribution: Ireland and Northern Ireland — A Joint Census Publication 2021-2022

Debate contribution by Mr David Honeyford on 24 November 2025.

MLA

Mr David Honeyford

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

24 November 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Ireland and Northern Ireland — A Joint Census Publication 2021-2022

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5254574

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I do not know how to follow that, to be honest, but I will set out our place in sharing this island without the belief that we live in Kent or somewhere else. The joint census is about facts and giving us data to help us make better decisions for people's lives, our economy and our future. It is important data to help focus policy, and it shows that the island is more interconnected today than at any point in our recent history. However, it is still nowhere near as interconnected as it could be. Yes, over 18,000 people cross the border every day, but it has not been mentioned that, when you set that beside the fact that a population of 7·1 million people live on the island, it focuses on the work that is needed, because the potential for mobility and collaboration and shared economic opportunity is still massively underutilised. That figure of 18,000 is growing as the opportunities grow, but that growth is still far too slow. It is growing only because of businesses and workers and because families act in their own best interests. Our job as policymakers — this is also for the Executive — is to remove the barriers and to stop leaving people to navigate the issues on their own. Alliance believes that unlocking that potential requires constant attention, and that means breaking down obstacles, improving the infrastructure, aligning skills and qualifications and making it easier for people and businesses to operate across the island. It also means delivering on the full potential of dual market access and that bridge into European markets. For us in Northern Ireland, this is not something to fear. We have just heard five minutes of fear.

Six minutes of fear. It is not something to fear. I appreciate that Emma and Sinn Féin have framed the motion in terms of constitutional change and that that is what their party exists for. However, for me and Alliance, this is about building better opportunities for people now: building a shared future and sharing the island in a practical, economic and inclusive way. Sharing the island is something that we should use to create better opportunities for everybody through increased trade, better job opportunities and stronger skills, and it should be outside of any constitutional debate. An all-island labour market gives us access to skills that we do not have enough of and opportunities for our young people that we must keep improving. That includes better student mobility, whether that is going to university in the South or movement from the South to the North; apprenticeships, where people living on either side are able to have apprenticeships that link together; and the scale required to attract investment for advanced manufacturing or for an all-island energy system to drive down the cost of energy for people and local families or for tourism, agri-food or across services. If we want our people to have higher wages, stronger productivity and real growth, collaboration North and South is not optional; it is practical economic sense. The census also highlights shared challenges such as housing pressures, better health outcomes, the ageing population, poor care and regional imbalance. None of those issues stop at the border, and joint evidence helps us to understand them better and design solutions that work for everyone. The motion calls on the Executive and asks how we use the strengths of each part of the island to deliver better outcomes for people here. Sharing the island must weave through every Department, not as a constitutional debate and not as that zero-sum game from either side of the Chamber that cannot be allowed to hold back the change that is needed. Sharing the island is practical policy to improve lives, drive growth and ensure that we do not fall further behind. At a time of intense global competition, smaller regions such as Northern Ireland, with our economy, cannot afford to work in a silo. Working together gives us more opportunity, greater investment and greater prosperity North and South, alongside the ability to continue to work and trade east-west and into and with the EU. The census simply confirms what people, workers, businesses, companies and the self-employed already know: we are better when we work together, sharing this place.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:02 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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