A Regional Balance Bill proposed by Foyle MLA Sinead McLaughlin has passed Second Stage in the Assembly at Stormont this week.
Ms McLaughlin says if passed, her Private Member’s Bill would place a legal duty on the Executive to tackle economic disparities across Northern Ireland, introducing legally-binding framework with time-bound targets and measurable outcomes, as well as annual accountability measures to track progress.
She told the assembly for decades, communities like Derry and the North West heard promises about addressing regional imbalance, but too often the investment, jobs and opportunities have failed to follow.
Now Ms Mclaughlin says, her bill would force the government to look at the whole of Northern Ireland, and the border region………..
You can listen to Ms McLaughlin’s full speech here –
