I believe the motion before us today serves two critical and highly significant purposes. First because the motion is based on a report that has the full support of all of the parties who met over the past six weeks and because it is based t on the considerable input made into the committee’s deliberations by representatives from a wide range of interest groups, it is a motion that must commend very serious consideration from us all, from Government departments and from the wider community.

Secondly the motion provides a key opportunity for parties to demonstrate their seriousness about making the restoration of our political institutions happen and happen by the 24^th November.

I want to focus attention on this second purpose for a few moments before returning to the actual contents of the report itself.

Those of us who have engaged in the work not just of the Economic Sub-Committee but more generally in the work of the Preparation for Government Committee, and in all a considerable number of Assembly members have participated to a greater or lesser extent, have been involved in a what has been and still is a unique enterprise.

For the first time ever, all of the parties elected to the NI Assembly are participating together in the work of the PfG Committee, long something that we in the SDLP have argued for.

As one of those who have participated very regularly in these deliberations it has not always been a positive experience. Hard things have been said, accusations of ill-will and of worse have not been uncommon, things said have been misinterpreted, and offence has been taken and so on.

But alongside that there has been some good humour as those keen readers of Hansard will already have discovered. And the staff is wonderful and I include those who have chaired the many sessions in these remarks. Indeed we can say without over stating what has been achieved that some advances have been made, among them the report on which the motion before us today is based, to date the high point of the committee’s work.

There are difficult and complex issues that remain to be resolved and even on the economic front the Preparation for Government Committee has asked that the Economic Sub-Committee do some more work on specific issues.

But if we are to build on what we are slowly and at times painfully addressing we need to take every opportunity to build confidence that all of us will deliver on our commitments and so enable restoration to happen in ways that are more rather than less likely to sustain our institutions.

That is why I regret and indeed fail to understand why the party that so stridently claims its ultimate objective to be uniting Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter is not present in these proceedings to contribute to building that confidence.

What has Sinn Féin to be afraid of by putting its views on this report and on the economy generally before the members of this assembly and through it to the public at large?

Indeed, if Sinn Féin is prepared to contribute to the work of the Preparation for Government Committee and to the compiling of a report that states “that the report will form the basis for a constructive and informed Assembly debate in September 2006….”, then why is it not making its constructive contribution here today?

Instead, true to its name, ‘Sinn Féin – Ourselves Alone’ is huddling in its corner of the political field clutching its ball to its chest hoping that by appealing to everyone else, especially the two governments, that they will oblige its future partners in the Executive to go and join it on its terms rather than on mutually acceptable terms. It is a shameful position to have put itself in and the sooner it abandons it and fully joins with the rest us the better it will be for the people who sent us here.

So if we are to make this debate real and if the report before us today is not to rest on a shelf already littered with many similar reports from earlier assemblies, then we need to know that all are going to play their part in making restoration a reality.

The DUP who still won’t commit to restoration also fail the challenge set by themselves and all of the other parties who have authored this report when they state “All the parties on this sub-group accepted that failure to have all-party agreement on the political institutions and policing will hinder and act as an impediment to business investment in Northern Ireland.”

If those words mean what they say, then no party can find refuge any longer in prevarication, obfuscation and delay; no party can avoid committing itself to a wholehearted embrace of the principles of partnership, equality and human rights and no party can take upon itself to be the sole arbiter of when or if, the conditions set for assessing the state of paramilitarism, and paramilitary related criminality are being met.

We have the basic framework and the institutions set out in the GFA to guide us. That framework and those institutions should give us all confidence to engage with one another in the full knowledge that our constitutional rights, our human and civil rights are fully protected and that like any living document of its kind its implementation can be developed and amended in the light of experience.

We should, therefore, get on with the task of meeting the challenges posed by our economic circumstances.

As to the details of this report there are a few points I wish to make. Most of what it contains has been said many times over recent years – the need to move to a more wealth generating economy, the need for business to become more export oriented, the need to strengthen and fully develop our all-Ireland business links, the need to modernise our infrastructure, the need to develop our r&d capacity, to ensure our education and training programmes are aligned with our economic and social needs; the need to ensure that we have the best incentive package available to encourage and sustain investment and above all the need to ensure that our economy develops in ways that will contribute to community harmony and community reconciliation.

I particularly endorse recommendation 11 on economic opportunities through clustering and collaboration with the South.

In the South over the past decade output has almost doubled, a rate of growth three times greater than here in the North. At present we could only match its standard of living by making even heavier claims on the UK Exchequer. Evidence from consistent British Ministerial pronouncements indicates that this will not be forthcoming.

Financial Services offer special opportunities. In the South since 1987 starting from zero the International Financial Services Centre has created over 11000 high income jobs, has attracted over 450 international financial institutions and is host to half of the world’s top 50 banks and half of the world’s top 20 insurance companies. We need to learn from Dublin’s expertise in this area.

On some of these points I think there is more work to be done. We must, for example, be much more precise as to what our needs are with respect to incentive packages.

Far too often we talk glibly about ‘peace dividends’, about ‘financial packages’ as if some extra amount of financial support is all that is required to make that step change. Figures are plucked from the air and if one party says the figure should be £100bn another is bound to say ‘no it should be £200bn’.

Furthermore we demand more reliefs or more caps on this payment or the other – reliefs from one tax or another to encourage and sustain investment, caps on another, reductions in payments for this service and the abolition of others.

Given our circumstances I support the need for special assistance and I believe that that assistance should come in the form of special measures, incentives and extra capital where that is necessary. A lower tax rate would help the competitive situation of local firms. The benefits of low tax only kick in when you make profits and it is a much better way to stimulate entrepreneurial activity than by grants and subsidies. A 12 ½ % rate will require approval from the European Commission and we should not underestimate how difficult this will be to obtain. Only a devolved administration will have the focus and the drive to achieve this.

But to effectively make the case we need more work and we need to forge a closer social partnership involving key interests so that together we can clearly identify and prioritise the specific infrastructural, r&d and training facilities together with those social initiatives that require extra resources. Then we need to agree those particular incentives, be these tax reliefs, tax credits or caps on other taxes that are most likely to attract and sustain investment, investment that will be wealth producing and that will enable us develop a competitive edge over other regions.

The keen interest in contributing to the Sub-Committee’s work demonstrated by trade union and employer groups as well as by community and voluntary organisations show clearly how they are to work with us in the context of a social partnership.

The additional work that the Sub-Committee on the Economy is being asked to undertake should, amongst the issues already identified, give consideration to how we should structure and develop a strong social partnership to enable move forward together and achieve the goal of a successful economy in a society fully committed to ensuring justice and fair treatment for all.