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Unionists reject North West motion

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The Walled City of Derry
Unionist MLAs have rejected a call for the North West to be named an area of 'special economic need' to help overcome what republicans said was decades of deprivation.

The Assembly heard that areas of Derry City had some of the worst unemployment statistics in Europe, while poor investment meant Northern Ireland's second city is 55 miles from the nearest motorway.

Sinn Fein tabled a motion proposing special support and claimed that a vibrant North West would help lift the wider economy.

Sinn Fein's Martina Anderson said: "None of this is about Derry 'whinging'," she said.

"But neither is it about Derry versus Belfast. The fact is that a vibrant North West and a vibrant Derry is good for the economy as a whole."

Troubles

The SDLP's Foyle MLA Pat Ramsey backed the motion, but he said Derry city had suffered from a combination of active discrimination by the old Unionist administration at Stormont, plus the IRA's attacks on its economy during the Troubles.

But the unionist parties succeeded in defeating the motion after they argued against singling-out one area for special help in the face of the current economic downturn.

DUP East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell said he had attacked Invest Northern Ireland in the past and had branded it 'Invest Greater Belfast', but he predicted it would consider the North West more often in the future.

Mr Campbell also said the current economic downturn had caused major difficulties across Northern Ireland and said that the largest percentage increase in unemployment over the last three years was in Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster's Fermanagh constituency.

He said: "The problem I see with the motion is that if it were to be passed, would members from (other parts of Northern Ireland) say their area should be targeted?"

The UUP's Leslie Cree (North Down) said the North West region had been hit hard by the recession.

"The question we must answer is whether declaring the North West an area of special economic need would help... I believe it would not," he added.

The Alliance Party's Sean Neeson said singling-out the North West would effectively discriminate against other areas.

The motion was voted down, as was an SDLP amendment calling for the North-West Gateway Initiative to be renewed under the authority of the North-South Ministerial Council.

© Press Association

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At 23:20 on 04 November 2009, doirecormac wrote:
I agree with most of what Jim has said but I think it is hypocritical of Sinn Fein to accuse others of discriminating against Derry when their own minister for education on 20th November 2008 signed the deal to set up the new ESA which will result in the loss of 125 civil service jobs from Derry on 1 January 2010. The new location of these jobs has yet to be decided but at one stage staff were told it looked like they were going to Craigavon. People in glass houses......
At 22:54 on 03 November 2009, jim wrote:
Typical of the unionist, what else would you expect? Let the north west region rot, they're all happily tucked up in the offices in stormont and belfast so why should they give a damn? They sit and shout about how the north west would discriminate against the other areas of the province when in true fact it's only belfast they're worried about, jobs for the chosen few, no relocation from belfast, big new waterfront developements, titanic quarter this titanic quarter that, big tv screen for the city. Durkin wants a foot bridge for derry, £13.8 million, must be a few builders he knows rubbing their hands knowing their gonna come good on this one. We don't want a footbridge, we don't need it and when did you ever ask anyone on the streets of derry did they want it? You did'nt ask me cause i'd have told you where to shove it. The sooner we have people in stormont who give a damn about the people of this province instead of thinking about how much money they can stuff in their back pockets the better we'll all be. As for the sinn fein, dup, tuv, sdlp, alliance party ha ha ha ha, We've had enough of your crap, enough of your in-house bickering, enough of you all robbing the working man of a decent wage and the unemployed of jobs.
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