Debate contribution: Economic Trends on the Island of Ireland

Debate contribution by Ms Sinéad McLaughlin on 26 January 2026.

MLA

Ms Sinéad McLaughlin

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

26 January 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Economic Trends on the Island of Ireland

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5340376

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you. Absolutely. In many walks of life, increasingly, even in healthcare, there is no border, and there are better outcomes if we share our services. I have to say, however, that there is a glaring contradiction at the heart of today's debate. The Sinn Féin motion is about urgency in economic delivery while Sinn Féin holds the Economy Ministry and is failing to deliver on the basics. So, before we get carried away with ambition, we need some honesty. It is easy to table a motion, but it is so much harder to govern and deliver. The ESRI report is clear that shared ambition alone is not enough. Without reform, urgency and delivery, particularly here in the North, those synergies will not translate into higher productivity, better living standards and stronger incomes. That is why my central message is simple: we must go further, and we must go faster. However, Northern Ireland continues to underperform against the very indicators that matter most in people's lives. The figures are stark. In 2023, gross national income (GNI) per capita in Ireland stood at €63,500, compared with GDP per capita of €30,500 in Northern Ireland. That is an 84% gap. As has been said, there is a similar pattern with households' disposable income. In 2022, disposable income per household was €36,900 in Ireland, compared with €33,400 in Northern Ireland. That is a 10% gap. Those are not abstract statistics but translate into whether families can cope, whether young people can stay here and whether work truly pays. Productivity is at the centre of the gap. The Lyons review criticised Invest NI for failing to properly measure or improve productivity, yet it is now years since that Lyons review, and there is little or no evidence of improvement. If productivity is truly central to the Minister's economic vision, where is the delivery? That leads me directly to talk about the Department for the Economy, because the uncomfortable truth is that Sinn Féin cannot propose motions about economic transformation while presiding over economic delay. Take the 'good jobs' Bill. We were told that that would lead to the biggest change in workers' rights in a generation, yet it still has not been brought to the Assembly. Deadlines have slipped, again and again, and, from what we heard at last week's Economy Committee meeting, it seems that there will probably be a further six-month delay. That causes concern. That uncertainty hurts workers and businesses alike and at precisely the time when we should be improving productivity and living standards for people. It is worth noting that Sinn Féin in the Republic of Ireland has been vocal about calling out Governments when they have failed workers. The Sinn Féin spokesperson for enterprise, tourism and employment said:

"We now see the government reneging on its commitments to workers, at a time when workers never worked so hard and struggled so much."

I would argue that workers across Northern Ireland have never worked harder and that they deserve delivery, not delay. Sinn Féin cannot demand ambition in a motion today while presiding over slippage and missed deadlines in the Economy Ministry at home here. On energy, the story is much the same. In fact, it is probably worse. We were once a leader on the transition to a greener economy, but now we are missing out on investments because the frameworks are not in place. Where is the legislation to support renewable electricity, and why does uncertainty persist around the North/South interconnector, which would deliver real benefits for consumers, investors and our long-term energy security? Regional balance is another area in which Sinn Féin's rhetoric does not match reality. Regional inequality has doubled here since the Good Friday Agreement. That is shocking. In 1998, Belfast's GVA was 42%. That now sits at 80%. People in the north-west do not experience regional balance. They see that too many good jobs are still concentrated in and around Belfast, and too many young people have to leave if they are to build a future. We are almost 16 months on from the publication of the 'Sub-Regional Economic Plan', yet only a minute proportion of the £45 million that was allocated to local economic partnerships has been spent. That does not represent regional balance or urgency —

— and it is not serious delivery.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:23 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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