Derry council business chief Stephen Gillespie tells Westminster ‘we are exporting a university worth of talent’

Mr. Gillespie made the comments during a briefing of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee (NIAC) on Wednesday.

He was providing evidence to the Westminster committee on the performance of City Deals, the effectiveness of regional investment, and the future of the social enterprise sector.

Chairing the briefing Robert Goodwill asked Mr. Gillespie what were the ‘most significant economic and social problems’ facing the region and if he felt Derry is ‘getting a fair slice of the cake compared with Belfast’.

Mr. Gillespie replied: “In terms of the challenges we face in our region skills is clearly top of the agenda... NI would face a skills deficit. We export at least a university worth of talent.

“When you look at our city region the higher level provision is clearly not enough given the size of the area so that is front and centre of the challenge we face.”

Mr. Gillespie said improving infrastructure and transport links is also a key priority.

“If you have been up to the region you will appreciate the issues we have in terms of transport and travel.

“Rail is a big push and we have made some serious advances over the last few years in that the roads are starting to improve but they are still a challenge and getting that connectivity piece right and getting the transport links and ensuring that we have links to all the major centres is really vitally important.”