Social Democratic and Labour Party MLA for Foyle
Let us —.
Go ahead, Mr Bradley.
Yes, we have seen a few of those too. I think of Shackleton Barracks, which was fast-tracked through the Executive. It was not given the hurdles to jump over and the hoops to jump through that Fort George and Ebrington faced in Derry in order to get approval through the Executive. I think of the Peace Bridge and the money that came from Europe for that. I also think of Seagate, which Mr...
I begin by paying tribute to my colleague Sinéad McLaughlin for the enormous amount of work that she has put into bringing the Bill before the Assembly. As a member of the north-west SDLP team and the north-west MLA team — we work pretty well with our neighbouring constituencies — I know exactly where her determination on the issue comes from. I represent the people of Derry. That is...
It is and will remain a cross-cutting issue. It applies to every Department, so, by extension of your logic, whichever Minister, from whatever party, who takes up whichever office, they, rather than the Executive, could put a stop to it. It would then be called in to the Executive anyway because it was cross-cutting, and, if someone had not adhered to it, it would ultimately be controversial,...
I will in a wee minute, Mrs Dillon. We cannot afford to start that conversation from scratch every five years depending on who the Minister is and what party they are from. We cannot keep waiting for the political stars to align. I hear Sinn Féin's concerns that progress could meet with resistance in the Executive. We have seen that before to Derry's detriment. I think of city deals....
We are still waiting to see the fruits of that, and people would be forgiven for wondering whether we ever will. I will come to you both in a wee minute. I think also of enterprise zones, another UK Government initiative. I remember the announcement, in 2013 or 2014, that Coleraine had been selected as an enterprise zone. I remember asking the deputy First Minister at the time — the late...
Regional balance has to become embedded in how government operates, but I appreciate the concerns that you raise. I am sure that the Bill sponsor will be happy to discuss those matters and for us to flesh out the least-risk approach. I will give way to Mr Delargy.
