Opinion: Where you live should not determine the opportunities available to you - Derry MLA Sinéad McLaughlin

There is a frustration I hear constantly in Derry, and I share it. Why are we still having the same conversations?

People in this city have spent decades making the case for the expansion of Magee. We have spent years fighting for better transport infrastructure and asking why Derry is not getting its fair share of economic opportunity.

These are not new arguments. That is precisely the problem.

Derry has never lacked ambition. We have brilliant businesses and talented young people who want to build their lives here.

But too often we have been left fighting against barriers that should have been addressed years ago.

That is what I am trying to change through my Regional Balance Bill, which passed its Second Stage in the Assembly last week.

For me, the principle behind the Bill is very simple. Where you live should not determine the opportunities available to you.

Before I entered politics, I had the privilege of leading the Chamber of Commerce in Derry.

I spent years working with businesses that wanted to grow and speaking to people who wanted to bring investment into the North West. There was never a shortage of ambition.

What I saw were businesses trying to succeed despite gaps in our infrastructure and skills base. I saw the frustration when Derry was once again being asked to wait for investment that had been talked about for years.

Those experiences stayed with me when I entered politics.

And the figures show just how far we still have to go. There is a 16% employment gap between the best-performing and worst-performing council areas in Northern Ireland. That is not a small difference. It shows that where you live continues to have a real impact on the opportunities available to you.

They also taught me that you cannot look at government decisions in isolation.

Magee is a good example.

We have spent decades campaigning for the expansion of our university because we know the difference it could make to this city.

But expanding Magee cannot be viewed separately from the rest of our economy. If graduates are going to stay here, they need opportunities when they finish their studies. If we want businesses to invest here, we need the infrastructure to support them.

That requires government departments to work together.

At the minute, that does not happen nearly enough.

My Bill is about changing that.

It would require the Executive to produce a long-term, legally binding framework for reducing regional disparities. Every government department would have to consider regional balance when developing its policies.

Crucially, government would also have to set measurable targets. That matters because we have had plenty of strategies before.

Regional balance has appeared in government documents for years. Ministers have talked about it. Commitments have been made. Yet many of the same gaps remain.

We need to get away from judging success by the size of an announcement and start asking whether people's lives are actually getting better.

If millions of pounds are invested but the gap remains, we need to know why. That accountability is at the heart of my Bill.

And the consequences of inequality go much further than the economy. The Department of Health's 2026 Health Inequalities Report found that drug misuse mortality in the most deprived parts of the Western Trust was 130% higher than the Trust average. Across Northern Ireland, the suicide rate in the most deprived communities is now three times that of the least deprived.

Those figures should stop us in our tracks. They are a reminder that when we talk about inequality, we are talking about people's lives.

That is why I have always been clear that this Bill is not about special treatment for Derry. It is about equal treatment.

Different places face different challenges. Government needs to recognise that when it makes decisions.

For too long, Derry has had to make the same case over and over again. We have had to fight for things that should be part of any serious plan to grow this city and the wider North West. I want this Bill to change that.

I do not pretend that passing one piece of legislation will suddenly undo decades of imbalance. It won't. But this Bill could be a gamechanger in how government makes decisions.

Regional disparities could no longer simply be acknowledged and then forgotten about. Departments would have to consider them, government would have to measure them and Ministers would have to answer for whether those gaps are actually closing.

Importantly, that responsibility would not disappear when a Minister changes or when we enter a new Assembly mandate. That is the difference legislation can make.

I am incredibly optimistic about Derry's future. I know the potential that exists here because I have spent much of my working life seeing it first-hand.

What frustrates me is that we are still having conversations today that people in this city were having thirty years ago. Another generation should not have to do the same.

Derry has made the case for itself time and time again.

My Regional Balance Bill is about changing what happens next. If it becomes law, regional balance will no longer simply be an aspiration of government.

It will be a responsibility of government.