Assembly
Speech
I am pleased to move this motion on all-Ireland co-operation,
particularly since it will be my last contribution to a debate in this chamber
and also because as a Southern, originally, who has found a warm welcome almost
everywhere in the North I have always been anxious to see relationships throughout
our island develop in a mutually harmonious and beneficial way.
One of the things that has pleased me most in recent years is to see the
pace of North-South co-operation intensifying since the Good Friday Agreement –
we now speak of all-island economy, not in a threatening way but in a mutually
beneficial way.
Evidence is to be seen in many particular investments and initiatives:
the Belfast-Dublin road, the creation of a single energy market for the whole island,
the creation of an integrated North-South gas supply, the increasing number of
cross-border hospital service contracts, joint research and development
projects by the island’s universities, investment in Derry City airport and in
the many smaller but nonetheless significant initiatives taken by voluntary and
community groups in both parts of the country.
All these initiatives highlight the ‘normalisation’ of practical
co-operation with mutually beneficial outcomes.
Indeed, the success of North-South co-operation in recent years is such
that there is no longer a question over its capacity to deliver economic and
social benefits on both sides of the border.
But despite that intensification, the current scale of North-South
co-operation is still only a fraction of its potential.
Achieving the full potential of this part of the Good Friday Agreement
has been hindered by suspension.
That is why the SDLP has been determined to ensure all-Ireland
initiatives should not be a hostage to political stalemate and why we developed
our ‘North-South Makes Sense’ campaign in the years since suspension, a
campaign aimed at providing a clear
focus on the opportunities which lie in joint initiatives across the island.
Now as we approach devolution we want to see North-South co-operation rise
to an even greater level of development – and we want it achieved under the
auspices of restored political institutions.
That is why we warmly welcome the proposals for enhanced North-South
c-operation contained in the Irish Government’s new National Development Plan –
proposals which invite the Assembly and its Executive to engage with their
southern counter-parts in realizing the potential in those proposals. It is not
a set of proposals offered on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis. Instead it is a
set of proposals to be negotiated and developed jointly.
The Plan contains proposals for significant Irish Government investment
in North/South projects and initiatives for mutual benefit which must be agreed
with a restored Northern Ireland Executive to cover the period 2007-2013.
The proposed package includes two new innovative elements:
• Joint investment in new strategic projects to benefit North and South;
and
• The opening up of access to existing development funding on an all-island
basis, and/or the introduction of new, agreed joint funding measures with the
British Government and Northern Ireland Executive on restoration.
While the strategic projects and services highlighted in the NDP range
over familiar matters like roads, rail, energy, tourism, health, education,
telecommunications, it is the scale and comprehensiveness of the
investment and the opportunity offered for an agreed approach to developing and
implementing the projects that is most significant.
The proposal
to open up funding opportunities on all all-island basis is one that the SDLP
has long urged. It is also one that is modelled on the European Union example
of funding that transcends political boundaries.
The
purposes envisaged for the proposed all-island funds could be in the following
areas: education, skills, science and innovation; energy research, including
renewable and sustainable energy; regional development; tourism development;
and poverty, social inclusion and community infrastructure.
These
funds would address the long-term challenges that both the Irish and British
Governments as well as most members in this house, agree need to be faced in
the modern, global economy. Such funds would be awarded on a competitive basis,
thereby rewarding innovation and collaboration and ensuring funds are allocated
to the best projects.
(This
is the first time that all-island economic and social dimensions have been so
prominently represented in an Irish government National Development Plan. The
proposals represent a massive opportunity to boost the economy and develop
services taking account of the needs and resources of the whole island and I
trust that our restored Executifve and Assembly will lose no time in entering
negotiations in order to ensure they are realised.)
I
believe there can only be a resounding ‘yes’ to an integrated road network
North-South as well as East-West, linking
Dublin-Belfast-Derry-Letterkenny-Sligo.
A
resounding ‘yes’ to the further development of all-island business opportunities
under the auspices of Intertrade Ireland, a body that already provides support
for over 4,000 enterprises North and South.
A
resounding ‘yes’ to enhanced developments of hospital, health and emergency services
for communities along the border as well as on an all-island basis?
A
resounding ‘yes’ to greater North-South investment in joint R&D projects in
our universities to assist economic development in both parts of our country?
And
a resounding ‘yes’ to additional funds being made available through the North-South
Ministerial Council for projects intended to assist innovation, to assist border
area communities, to promote all-island recconciliation initiatives.
We can do more together to get more together in terms of both more
strategic outcomes and procurement and delivery gains. Our economies, North and
South, face common challenges, so it makes sense to find common solutions. That
is what the North-South agenda is all about.
Beyond the
political and practical case for broad-based North-South co-operation, there is
growing acknowledgement of its importance in building trust and good relations
between our communities within the North and across the island.
As the Head of Co-operation
The Good Friday Agreement created not only a framework for political
co-operation and partnership in Northern Ireland, it also widened and extended
the basis for co-operation and partnership to the whole island of Ireland, and
included a new framework for policy development with partners in a new
British-Irish relationship as well.
As we develop the potential of our island as a whole we must do so in the
full knowledge that we are part of a global village in which to play our proper
roles we have to be outward looking. For far too long our tendencies,
particularly here in the North, have been to look inward and to ignore the
wider world, its opportunities and challenges – except when it came to seeking
funding.
The SDLP believes that in taking the opportunities and in facing the
challenges posed by co-operation on an all-island basis we shall be even better
able to face those in the wider world.