Conor Murphy says regional balance for Derry will be priority as he outlines economic vision

Derry Journal

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00:00 Everyone, no matter where they live, should have the same opportunity to earn a living.

00:04 A number of areas suffer from economic disadvantage. The North West in particular has long had

00:10 a low level of employment, despite having huge potential for growth.

00:15 We can create a more regionally balanced economy by setting local economic targets and funding

00:19 local economic strategies that are designed in partnership with councils and local enterprise

00:24 agencies and are based on local strengths and potential. By offering greater financial

00:30 incentives for inward investors and for indigenous companies that are expanding to locate in

00:35 areas that are underdeveloped. Developing industries with a strong sub-regional presence

00:40 such as tourism, hospitality and manufacturing. Building the portfolio of land and property

00:46 for business development in disadvantaged areas. And driving forward delivery of projects

00:51 that improve regional balance, such as the expansion of the Magee campus and city and

00:55 growth deal projects.

00:56 I thank the Minister for his statement, particularly the comments around addressing regional balance.

01:03 One of the ways to do that, of course, is through the city and growth deals. There's

01:06 a lot of frustration, particularly within my own council area in Foyle, at the delay

01:11 in getting those projects over the line. What can the Minister do to try and progress the

01:15 city and growth deals as fast as possible?

01:19 Well I had the opportunity earlier, last week, sorry, to visit Derry and to speak to people

01:25 involved in that, both at the Chamber of Commerce but at Magee, which is one of the central

01:29 projects to the growth deal. I am concerned that some of the momentum has gone out of

01:34 that. I think there is a necessity, obviously when public money is involved and when projects

01:39 are put forward, to make sure there is due diligence to make sure they work. But we also

01:43 need momentum in this and the longer it takes to get these growth deals done then, as we've

01:48 seen with all capital projects, every year that they're delayed the cost goes up. So

01:52 what I want to see is to ensure that the due diligence is done but not done in a way which

01:58 effectively strangles the projects themselves. And so we need to get them moving. And there

02:03 are big opportunities there. I was impressed with the level of enthusiasm and the sense

02:07 of opportunity that there is in Derry. And I want to see the department as an enabler

02:12 for that and that means Invest NI then having a much more proactive role with the council,

02:17 with the chamber, with business partners and other community and voluntary sector partners

02:20 in Derry in the time ahead and in the North West. It also means working with the Southern

02:24 Government because there's significant investment has come in there from Dublin and there are

02:29 strong linkages between, particularly in the education sector, between Magee and Letterkenny.

02:33 I've spoken to Minister Harris about that and we intend to jointly visit the area to

02:37 try and continue to promote that. So there are opportunities. We need to just make sure

02:42 that the system of government isn't slowing that down when we really should be pressing

02:45 ahead with it. I appreciate the prioritisation that you have

02:50 given to regional balance in your statement. So the North West, we've seen many visions

02:56 and promised prioritisation, but unfortunately we never actually get to the delivery point.

03:03 So Minister, many countries across Europe actually put regional balance in legislation.

03:09 Would you agree that for regional economic and social balance, we need to actually tackle

03:16 it through legislation and would you commit to bringing forward that legislation?

03:22 I'm also conscious of the time frame that we're working with here and I wish that it

03:25 was a five year mandate. It's a three year mandate now that we're dealing with. So the

03:31 choice is do I get on with this, reorientate because the delivery mechanism for this is

03:35 Invest NI and it hasn't had this orientation in its past. Do I get on with this and reorientate

03:42 Invest NI and try and get more regional work done with the partners that are in those areas

03:47 that we've spoken to that tell us about how they want things to work and get it going

03:51 now or do I go out and start to consult on legislation, which would probably take the

03:54 best case scenario a year, 18 months to get in place. Now I'm not averse to doing legislation

03:59 and if a legislation is required in the future, I'd be very happy to do this. My focus today

04:04 is trying to get the policy changed, trying to get the implementation arm orientated to

04:08 match the new policy and to get delivering on the ground.

04:12 As a small island, connectivity to our economy is obviously crucial. Having supported the

04:19 City of Derry's PSO to Heathrow, will you look at the Derry to Dublin route as what

04:25 was promised under the New Decade New approach? Thank you.

04:28 Yes, well I was very pleased to be up there last week with the Infrastructure Minister

04:33 and to provide support to City of Derry. It's a critical connector for them to be connected

04:39 into Heathrow, one of the busiest airports in the world, but also critical for them,

04:43 and they've said this many times, is that connection with Dublin and the potential then

04:47 to grow the business of the airport through that. So that's something I'm very pleased

04:52 now that this executive and this institution is up and functioning and also functioning

04:56 will be the North South Ministerial Council. I've already been in touch with my counterparts

05:00 in Dublin. Those are some of the issues that we want to progress on in the time ahead.

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