I thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing me to bring this matter to the attention of the Minister.
In July 2008 I welcomed the fact that a €43 million telecoms boost would be made to the north west. I assume the Minister's response will be that there is still a €43 million telecoms boost for the north west. However, I could not resist putting down this marker to say we know what happened. I refer to the fact that a survey was done, a consultant's report was made and a decision was taken to try to advance a cross-Border telecoms project in the north west and Derry was chosen on the basis of disadvantage and as part of the gateway initiative linking with Letterkenny. To quote Mr. Mark Durkan, MLA:
It is now plain that the clear public policy reasons for this transatlantic connection being terminated at a Derry Telehouse were set out as far back as the independent PA Consulting feasibility report in April 2007... That report made clear arguments for Derry - in terms of cable technology, the advantages of Derry city's existing telecoms as a junction, and for the economic success of the whole link.
As he pointed out, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment has failed to counter those arguments with real reasons or tenable points. Despite the fact the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, many other Ministers and I welcomed the tender for a telehouse in Derry city, we now find that a middle-ranking official seems to have been able to give clarity to the winning operator to say it was not Derry city but Derry county and therefore it could build its facility in Coleraine not in Derry as planned.
I am not knocking the project. It is excellent and will give great opportunities to business. It will be as important to Donegal as anywhere else but the reason for raising the issue is a point of principle. Derry and the west of the North is as badly off as the north west in the geographical pull for resources, infrastructure, economic investment and employment opportunities. Gateway and disadvantaged status and the EU support body were put together specifically to raise difficult areas out of their disadvantage. This project was specifically intended to support the status of Derry city and the surrounding areas. When it came to the final hurdle we found the traditional east-west divide exists in Ulster, namely, from Coleraine across to Belfast. We are back to where nothing seems to be allowed to go west of the Bann.
That is not something I feel happy to talk about so many years after a peace process but I would be politically negligent if I did not support my colleagues in Derry in asking the Government to ask the relevant officials and Ministers in the department in the North to revisit the decision and to go back to the original tender for Derry city. I want to know when the Department, the gateway initiative and the special EU support bodies organisation were told there would be a change in location. Were concerns raised by us or by them? When was the decision to move taken? Will the Government support the request by Mr. Mark Durkan, MLA, and others for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to restore the original plan?
The type of answer I am bound to get is that the change will allow for more people in more areas to be supported such as Portadown and Newry. It was always intended to support Monaghan. I wish to be parochial. I could be parochial in supporting Coleraine because the car ferry that goes across the Foyle allows me to get there in 15 minutes. I come back to my original point, namely, the status and the confidence that says it is as easy for businesses to operate in Derry city as anywhere else. The point is not the jobs involved in the telehouse. The report originally pinpointed Derry because it had the critical presence in terms of BT, Eircom and Virgin. This was to be an economic multiplier on Kilroot and Maydown for power outages. The maximum latency was in Derry and if the project were based there it would have provided the maximum impact to encourage new industries into the area.
I refuse to pretend this did not happen. People can say we should not rock that boat, that it is great the Executive is making decisions up there. I do not accept that. There was an east-west divide for the past 40 years and that must stop. I pointed out the areas of disadvantage to Mr. Peter Robinson at a meeting in Enniskillen where he presented the facts when he was Minister for Regional Development. It is a fact that the west is not thriving like the east. That must stop and the cross-Border groups and the Minister, who has the potential to attend cross-Border ministerial meetings, must say we will not pander to any decisions that undermine due process, namely, that the project was to be facilitated in Derry.
