Hamilton says Ramseyshould talk up city

Finance Minister Simon Hamilton has told Foyle MLA Pat Ramsey to start talking up the “wonderful city of Londonderry” rather than complaining about being a “second class citizen.”

He made the comments after presenting the Executive’s agreed draft Budget for 2015-16.

Following the Minister’s statement Mr Ramsey said: “Given the levels of apathy and anger in the North West, the feeling that the Executive are not working for them and the sense, particularly in my constituency, that they are second-class citizens, what can the Minister say to my constituents and others living in the North West about the regional economic imbalance? Can he say that this is a good Budget for them, particularly in relation to the extension to the Magee campus in the city?”

The Minister responded: “I have said to the Member before in the House that, instead of talking down his city, he would better serve the people of Londonderry if he were to come to the House, and go on radio and television, and start talking up what is a wonderful city, a wonderful region and a wonderful part of Northern Ireland. “This Executive have invested significantly in the North West.

“Everybody on all sides of the House welcomed the City of Culture and appreciated the benefits that it brought to Londonderry.

“We can all be proud of the North West Regional Science Park, recently opened by the deputy First Minister and developed using and leveraging in EU funding. There are also the developments, through Ilex, of the Fort George/Ebrington site.

“All sides of the House should be proud of those investments in our second city. Obviously, it is a matter for individual Ministers where they invest the money in their new baseline for the next financial year, but I think that this Executive have a record of taking Londonderry and the North West seriously, putting our money where our mouth is and investing in that part of Northern Ireland.

“The people there are starting to see the benefits of that, with the spin-offs from the City of Culture. The Member shakes his head, but I reiterate the point that he does the people of Londonderry a disservice by talking his city down all the time in the House and in the media.

“Investments have been made in Londonderry and the wider north-west of Northern Ireland that constituencies all over Northern Ireland would very much welcome.”