Oral Answers to Questions — Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 2:00 pm on 1 February 2016.
3. Mr McCarthy asked the First Minister and deputy First Minister to outline the progress made in implementing Together: Building a United Community in rural areas. (AQO 9496/11-16)
The actions and commitments within the Together: Building a United Community strategy will impact on all areas of our society, including rural areas. Under the United Youth programme, 13 pilot projects have commenced, providing around 360 places. Young people from all areas can avail themselves of those, and one of the pilots is being delivered by the Rural Development Council in Mid Ulster. Of the five shared neighbourhoods under construction, two are in rural areas — Crossgar Road, Saintfield, and Burn Road, Cookstown. The three shared education campuses announced to date are located in rural areas: Limavady, Moy and Ballycastle. One hundred and one summer camps have been delivered in 2015 involving around 4,200 children and young people, mainly from rural areas.
The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure is also considering the expansion of its cross-community youth sports programme into a rural area. As with all other Departments, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is represented on the ministerial panel and the good relations programme board. Under the strategy, DARD has committed to working with rural community organisations to encourage increasing openness and accessibility and to reduce the chill factors and fears that prevent open access. Contracts are in place with lead service providers for the delivery of a rural community development support service, which is promoting and supporting work in a number of areas, including community relations.
I thank the deputy First Minister for a detailed response. He will know that, in some rural communities, divisions can often be subtle and less visible than elsewhere. Has his Department any separate or special regeneration plans to tackle that where they see that it may arise?
Quite obviously, the ministerial panel is consistently keeping under review how the programme is being delivered. Thus far, we have made good progress on it, not least in the allocation of £60 million through the Fresh Start Agreement over the next five years. If the Member has a concern about a particular area, my door is open and we are willing to have a conversation about it. I think that we are very focused on the need to ensure that all rural areas are included and that the programme is delivered in a very inclusive way.
Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I am sure that the deputy First Minister will agree with me that community safety is at the core of cohesive rural communities. I invite him in his role as a joint leader with the First Minister comment on the situation developing in my community of West Tyrone, where in the past week five Masses have been targeted for car break-ins and thefts. I am really emphasising the importance of community safety in rural communities by making our communities cohesive and safe.
First and without hesitation, the First Minister and I would unreservedly condemn the actions of those who are involved in such criminality in or around any place of worship. There is obviously a huge responsibility whenever there is an outbreak for the local community, working in harmony with the Police Service, to ensure that it is combated as effectively as possible. Obviously, somebody out there knows that this is happening, and there are people with information. I encourage anybody with any information to pass it on to the police.
Congratulations to the Member for that imaginative use of his question.
What progress has been made on implementing T:BUC in my constituency of West Tyrone?
We are very focused on ensuring that the delivery of the Together: Building a United Community project is implemented successfully in every single constituency. The detail of your constituency is something that I will write to you about.
Obviously, it is a very exciting programme. It is one that we are prepared to put a tremendous amount of funding into because it is absolutely vital that we ensure that we bring our community together. It is also important to recognise the huge responsibility that politicians have, not just to deliver the programme but to lead by example. We must also ensure, however, that we are not just bringing people together at a grass-roots level. The people at grass-roots level have to be able to see that the politicians here in the Assembly are prepared to work together for the common good. That it is why the negotiation of the Fresh Start Agreement prior to Christmas was so vital, as it showed the community that decisions can be made that will improve their lives. Of course, a whole range of decisions was made at that negotiation.
West Tyrone is a very important constituency, as are all the others. The programmes are being rolled out effectively, and we will write to you about what is happening in West Tyrone.
I wish to ask the deputy First Minster what the total spend has been, and how much of that is additional. How much would have been spent anyway?
We have allocated £10 million for this financial year. We agreed, as I said in my earlier answer, to put aside £60 million over the next five years, and that is extra money that we have budgeted for. We believe that the programme is worthy of not just one year or two years but an extended period of something like five years, as it will have enormous benefits in bringing our community together. In short, the answer is that the £60 million is new money.