Derry is vibrant, outward looking and expanding... a city in transformation

Once a byword for discrimination and injustice following partition, Derry is becoming a vibrant, outward looking and expanding city, writes Michelle O’Neill.

In recent weeks, the ongoing redevelopment and regeneration of the city took a number of major steps forward.

Firstly with the decision by the Executive to provide a huge funding package to match-fund the City Deal and Inclusive Growth Strategy - amounting to more than £210 million - the largest investment in the history of the city.

This funding will act as a catalyst for the regeneration and development plans which have been designed for the city in recent years and will create huge opportunities, growth and employment.

This has long been a commitment for Sinn Féin and something we have pursued for a long time in every way possible.

Working in the Executive we know the importance of securing and delivering a medical school for Derry and the wider north west.

That is why, as Joint Head of Government, I have prioritised this project and this is why the Executive Office has agreed to drive it forward.

It is an important and necessary move to make sure we have enough doctors in the future across the wider north west area.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has shown us the vital importance of having well trained health workers, working within communities, caring for people and saving lives.

We are determined to see this project progress to create more opportunities for young people across Derry, Donegal, Fermanagh and Tyrone and the wider northwest and to continue to drive the expansion of Magee.

This is about an opportunity and the future.

I am, of course, also well aware of the history and symbolism around the university in Derry and the campaign that was fought in the 1960s and the impact the decision not to build the north’s second university in the city had, economically, politically and culturally.

But we are now in a totally different time. Those days are gone and are not coming back.

We are in a new era, both at Stormont and in Derry.

The Executive has given a commitment to addressing regional inequalities and the legacy of underinvestment and neglect and that is what we are doing.

Sinn Féin also have made commitments to the people of Derry and the north west and we are delivering on those also.

With the new medical school - the second in the north - going ahead and the first students starting next September, Derry has taken another step forward.

The upgrade of the A6 is well underway and progress is being made on the A5 linking Derry to the rest of the island.

There is greater cooperation on an all-Ireland basis.

Elected representatives from the north west are making the case for the city on a daily basis in the Assembly and in the Oireachtas with a new voice in Senator Elisha McCallion. And that case is being heard and listened to at the Executive table.

Of course, challenges remain, not least with the impending Brexit. In Derry, effectively Ireland’s only cross-border city, the need to protect the all-Ireland economy is well understood and why we have been adamant on the need for the unique protections already secured to be implemented.

But these and other challenges can and will be met.

At the recent Sinn Féin Ard Fheis in Derry, Mary Lou McDonald said the city was now entering a decade of opportunity.

Those opportunities are now opening up; they are no longer aspirational. They are here.

And, as a co-leader of an Executive committed to delivering for all, I will continue to work with Team Sinn Féin in Derry, West Tyrone and Donegal to create more and better opportunities for everyone.