Daniel McCrossan
West Tyrone · Social Democratic and Labour Party · Northern Ireland
“I thank the Member for giving way. She has raised some points of interest. Aside from the Bill at hand, the Department of Finance currently collects rates from property owners across Northern Ireland. I have found that there can be difficulties with that when properties have been lying vacant for a significant period.”
“That applies in particular to those who have been land-banking over a period of time — that happens everywhere, unfortunately — with the hope that the big cash cow will be coming and, ultimately, they will be relieved of their responsibility to maintain, look after and enhance the landscape in a town or village by spending the necessary f…”
“As is often the case when we speak in the House, it may be that some ratepayers or members of the public will take it as a given that the Bill will be the silver bullet that will resolve the dilapidation issues in towns. Depending on which area you are in, the scale is very different.”
“We need to be creative in how we can put the Bill to task. <BR /> <BR />Certainly, as I have said, it is good policy. I have no question that the Bill is well intended.”
“<BR /> <BR />Addressing dilapidation is not simply a matter for local government in isolation. The responsibility lies with the Executive as a whole. The Executive have had their eyes closed to this matter for too long, and many of our buildings have deteriorated significantly across council areas over a long period.”
“That encourages private investment, and there is natural enhancement from those investors. However, in areas that lag behind because of economic decline, underinvestment and general deprivation, many towns and cities can quickly become the poor cousin.”
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“This House, through past decades, has completely failed many of these people, who are the most vulnerable, marginalised and helpless in our society. In this year's Budget and draft Programme for Government I do not see any meaningful attempt from this Government to address this issue. <BR /> <BR />The Minister stated in his opening statement to the Committee for Communities that his vision is to ensure that everyone can have access to good-quality housing at a reasonable cost and that he intends to have 1,600 social housing homes built across the North this year. I welcome that announcement, Minister, but West Tyrone alone suffered for years with few or no new housing builds.”
“That should be a priority for the Assembly in this new mandate. <BR /> <BR />Some would say that the provision of social housing is reaching crisis point. I strongly argue, having listened to the contributions from Members today, that we are at crisis point. I hope the Minister is listening intently to the concerns of Members. There has not been the necessary investment in new social homes, while the existing stock will soon become outdated and is coming into a state of disrepair due to the delay in maintenance projects, which is ongoing. <BR /> <BR />As my colleagues and others highlighted, waiting lists for social housing are at an all-time high. I think it is important that we continue to repeat this number: 40,000 people are on waiting lists, Minister. Some 22,000 of those are in housing stress and 10,000 are deemed homeless.”
“I welcome the opportunity to participate in today's debate on an important issue that is plaguing my constituency of West Tyrone and many others, as we heard in the House today. It has left tens of thousands of vulnerable and helpless people across the North without adequate housing. The supply of a good standard of housing is a basic human need. When you come from a constituency that is rife with deprivation and unemployment, social housing is absolutely paramount for children to ensure that they have a roof over their head and that they get the best possible start in life.”
“Minister, I too welcome the development of the Strule campus and I thank you for your detailed progress report to the House. Will you outline your Department's plans for the existing sites following the relocation and whether you have plans to utilise the sites for the benefit of the local community and the local economy?”
“Maybe the Minister will visit West Tyrone to see whether I am reflecting simple negativity or the reality on the ground. <BR /> <BR />Minister, I assume that you will not agree with what I am about to ask, but are we seeing an increase in cross-border trade as a result of the devaluation of the pound, or do you believe that it is quite simply because we have pulled out of Europe? What is your view, and what are you going to do to instil confidence in the people of my constituency of West Tyrone?”
“Well, I am sorry, but someone needs to be held to account for a lost life, because that is what it is. For the many families out there, it is a lost life. Mothers and fathers have given up jobs to look after their loved ones, to look after the most vulnerable in our society and ensure that they have the most fundamental, necessary care that should have been protected by the trust. <BR /> <BR />Some of those people are in the Gallery. Frances McHugh is listening intently. I commend her, because she is one of those people who has suffered unnecessarily. We can go into the ins and outs, but we have only three minutes. My point is simple. This House, those families, our communities and the Western Trust area wants and deserves answers and must have them. No more of the tail wagging the dog. This has to be sorted out.”
“Michelle Gildernew is absolutely right: it was like a death. We stood in those public meetings and watched people crying and watched people's lives ripped apart, and, even yet, we cannot get the answers to the questions that we have. <BR /> <BR />This is the most important debate, in my view, that has come to the Floor of the House at this juncture, and I sincerely hope that, beyond this point, we can get the answers that are necessary. I commend the people who have brought this issue to the public domain. The families have been saying for over 20 years that something is wrong. They knew people in other trust areas who were getting better services than we were. The most disappointing thing about this is that when we ask who is responsible, we are told, "This is not a game of pointing fingers".”
“I thank my constituency colleague Ross Hussey for bringing this debate to the House. Given that we have a limited time frame for the number of people who can speak on this, I will get straight to the point. This was an unprecedented scandal. We are not getting answers. Who is responsible? Is it the health and social care trust? We cannot even get those answers in relation to this unbelievable failure in relation to the most vulnerable people in our society. How on earth are people supposed to have trust in this House if we still do not have those answers? We still do not know if it is £8 million a year or less. How are we supposed to get the answers for the people out there who are suffering day and daily if we cannot answer the most simple of those questions? <BR /> <BR />People are suffering.”
“The Member mentioned applications for farming and car tax. Does she agree that the difficulty, as I said to fellow Member Michaela Boyle, is in getting through to these people? The car tax agency is now in Swansea, having moved from Coleraine. Again, there is a disconnect: they do not know where West Tyrone or Fermanagh and South Tyrone are. That is a huge issue.”
“Does the Member agree that, in the exact context in which she is speaking, Douglas Bridge, in our own Strabane district, is an example of that? There was a cut-out, and when my office contacted the provider — I am sure it was the same in your office — we were asked for the phone numbers of absolutely every person in that area who was directly affected, and they would not address us otherwise. That was unacceptable.”
“They have ignored us and ignored us and ignored us. We have no Internet and we have no mobile signal." Complete and utter isolation — that is an example of the reality. We have much to talk about of benefit, yes, in central Omagh and the central parts of Strabane, but when you go to the farther roads, people are utterly, completely isolated, neglected and ignored. Those who are benefiting are talking about the slow speeds, and some say that that is satisfactory because they are getting some broadband. It is a neglect of a rural community and of all rural constituencies. It must be addressed, Minister, and addressed in this mandate. It cannot go beyond that. We are not going to suffer any more excuses.”
“I want to know what the Department is going to do, on a meaningful basis, to actually deal with this issue. There is no justification — the Minister is listening — for the lack of investment, funding and delivery around this particular issue in my constituency. <BR /> <BR />It is an issue in relation not only to broadband but to telephone coverage. I will give an example from when I was canvassing — a very real insight. I needed to get access to a phone, and I said to someone with me, "Can I borrow your mobile?", and they said, "We have no network, Daniel." So I went to the next house and had a conversation, and I asked the lady, "Can I use your landline?", and she said, "I'm sorry, but there was a lightning strike, and we haven't had a BT landline for a few weeks. We have made contact with BT.”
“There are also schoolchildren, as Ross rightly pointed out. Some in this House may have used a biro or a pen, but we have come much further than that — in relation to homework, at least, but certainly not in relation to broadband. We need to get real about these issues. It is feeding into the migration issues that we face in Northern Ireland — emigration issues, in fact, but in particular the migration. Students do not want to come home from Belfast because they have no access to the Internet. They cannot communicate with their friends — the most basic thing. As Mr Buchanan rightly pointed out, you may have broadband on one side of the road while the people on the other side of the road do not. That is hugely frustrating. To a large extent, it is discriminatory, although I do not like using that language.”
“There is a major flaw right there. That should not be happening in 2016. Businesses cannot get their orders out in time, which has a knock-on effect for the reputation of that business and on the person who is purchasing the materials. It is limiting our capacity, as a constituency, to truly expand economically. People will not invest in a constituency that cannot meet the basic needs in relation to broadband. In 2016, broadband is a vital strand of any infrastructure, and that needs to be appreciated by the House. To hear that a particular area does not meet the needs or the costs is utterly ridiculous. There are 18 constituencies in Northern Ireland, and each and every person, from one end of those to the other, has a right to access that service. <BR /> <BR />That is only one area.”
“It is great that we have Project Kelvin in Omagh, with everything that it could potentially deliver for the area, but that in itself is not enough. That is only one area. West Tyrone is a hugely rural constituency, and the people feel very neglected. I could ramble about the figures and the costs and the money that has been spent elsewhere, but I am going to talk about the real-life aspect of this particular situation. I am going to talk about the people who are trying to run businesses in our constituency — a constituency that has been rife with unemployment, social deprivation and lack of investment for a long number of years. This is not a new problem, but it could help to address the very real difficulties that we have in relation to the local economy. <BR /> <BR />Ross is right: businesses cannot get their staff paid.”
“I, too, welcome this all-important debate and thank my constituency colleague Mr Tom Buchanan for bringing it to the House. I also welcome the Minister and his attention to this all-important issue. <BR /> <BR />We have just come out of an election, and this is a problem that we picked up on at every rural door. Ross is right. Barry has heard it, I have heard it and every MLA before us in our constituency has heard it. It is not a new problem. Tom, on a point that you made, this is not about being negative; this is real life. It is real life for the people of West Tyrone, particularly those in the more rural parts of the constituency.”
“Issues that specifically surround rural areas have not been thoroughly considered, and outreach programmes for our young people would be severely hampered.”
“For obvious reasons, we will not support the amendment, but we will call on the Secretary of State and the NIO to reconsider the decision and ensure that the local service is protected and remains across Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />To conclude, the cuts would dramatically impact on the democratic rights of my constituents and others.”
“<BR /> <BR />In the long term, it is vital that all options be considered; for example, how the regional offices can be facilitated and, indeed, linked to local councils. I know that the Omagh office is situated close to our local council buildings, and consideration must be given to how we can use the premises to house services for constituents, including services provided by the electoral offices. <BR /> <BR />The SDLP will not be supporting today's amendment proposed by Sinn Féin. We will be supporting the motion. The amendment calls for the devolution of electoral powers to Northern Ireland where this Assembly would dictate its own fate.”
“The last thing that West Tyrone, or any other rural community for that matter, needs at this time is further job losses or redundancies, and certainly a further reduction in rural services. It is not all just voter registration and nomination papers that the electoral offices deal with. The Omagh electoral office serves the wider community through its outreach programme every year. Representatives visit 25 schools across the constituency, ensuring that our young people are properly informed and prepared for registering to vote for the first time. They also stress to them the importance of using their vote. It is my concern that that important outreach programme and the linking-up with many secondary schools in West Tyrone and across many other constituencies will be completely hampered under the proposed new arrangements.”
“We need to be doing more to encourage people to register to vote and to use their right to vote. This will be a disincentive and put many people off, particularly those in rural communities. <BR /> <BR />It is important to remember that the Omagh office in my constituency serves West Tyrone and Fermanagh and South Tyrone. I am sure that my colleague Mr McPhillips, who also feels very strongly about the issue, will agree with me that it serves our constituencies very well. Martin Fox and his staff in the Omagh Area Electoral Office — I met and joined them during the industrial action — provide a first-class service for the people of my constituency and the neighbouring constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone. That service is now at risk as these proposals will lead to the loss of four full-time staff.”
“How are they supposed to register or receive advice if there are no regional offices? The question of whether the Northern Ireland Office proposals were subject to rural proofing legislation also has to be asked. <BR /> <BR />The proposals put forward are to have a centralised office in Belfast with a helpline for anybody who has any difficulties with the registration process. However, I know at first hand, as I am sure other Members do, how invaluable the human interaction in these offices has been and continues to be. The advice given on, for example, having the right documents in order or having the registration form properly completed has proven valuable when we, as Members, are assisting constituents with getting on to the voting register. As Mr Buchanan and others said, voting numbers are dropping year in and year out.”
“These cuts have already impacted the services available for rural communities such as my constituency. Yet again, the further cuts and the closures of electoral offices are not in Belfast but spread across many towns that serve rural areas. This, in itself, will have ramifications for local populations and rural communities. <BR /> <BR />The budget cuts proposed are mainly due to the upcoming introduction of an online registration system, as Members who spoke previously said. What consideration has been given to the quality of broadband services in rural areas? What consideration has been given to the fact that, as mentioned, in my constituency and others, there are many people, especially our older population, who do not have access to a computer and are not computer literate?”
“I support the motion. This is a very important issue across Northern Ireland, but it affects my constituency directly, which is the reason why I am speaking about it. It is somewhat ironic, given that we face probably the biggest decision of a generation this Thursday, that we are in the Chamber to discuss the closure of electoral offices. The SDLP stands full square behind the staff of these offices. It is vital that the Chamber also shows that support and solidarity in opposing these punitive and anti-democratic budget cuts. <BR /> <BR />It is important to remember that, over the last six years, electoral offices have already faced a reduction of 25% in their operating budgets. The new proposals by the NIO amount to a further 17% reduction.”
“I thank the Minister for her answer so far. Can she also outline what her Department has been doing to secure access to new trade markets and, in particular, update us on the discussions with Australia and China? Pork producers are really keen that the Chinese market be opened up.”
“I, too, congratulate the Minister on her elevation to her new role.”
“Does the Member agree with me that another huge issue that came up whilst we were canvassing and that comes up when speaking generally to constituents who come in is the condition of the roads and the access to homes in the winter, particularly for people in very rural areas like Cranagh, for instance. It is important to state it on the record during the debate that people there are almost entirely cut off from schools, health services — everything. There is a huge concern about the maintenance of roads in the winter, and we must ensure that they are accessible.”
“Hopefully, his Department will do what it can to accommodate them.”
“They told me on countless occasions that it was not their responsibility because it was privately owned property, but there was a verge there that could have accommodated the concern of the people who brought it to our attention. <BR /> <BR />I will finish by saying basically that too many vehicles are being damaged unnecessarily as a result of these roads. It is something that frustrates everybody, because many homes now have possibly three cars, particularly in rural constituencies, where they depend on their own transport. It is one of the biggest concerns, next to rural broadband. I welcome that debate next week because it is a very real issue that has been highlighted right across the constituency in recent weeks and months. I thank the Minister for listening to the remarks.”
“It is not just about ensuring that potholes are filled, but that the most dangerous roads — those that are turning on corners and those that have not got sufficient signage or barriers on corners — also receive the attention that is required from the Department. An example, if I am going to be very local and parochial, is the Ballee Road in Strabane, where you are going along the old Strabane glen. Michaela Boyle will be familiar with this road. The road almost goes off like a cliff. It is a very narrow road, so when two cars meet, one has to pull in. On a dark night, it is very difficult to tell, especially if you are a stranger, that there is no actual banking there, and you could end up going over the ditch to quite a height. I arranged to meet Roads Service officials on numerous occasions.”
“A report conducted this year by 'Detail Data' revealed that a staggering 74% of road deaths occur on rural roads. This includes drivers, pedestrians, motorcyclists, passengers and cyclists; practically anyone who lives in a rural constituency. A number of issues arise here, such as the provision of street lighting, whether more crash barriers are needed and enforcement of rural speed limits. Too many people, especially young people, are losing their lives on rural roads. <BR /> <BR />To conclude my remarks, it is important that the Assembly invests properly in rural roads infrastructure in West Tyrone.”
“Every single week, we receive complaints from constituents in our offices about their cars hitting potholes or other road surface defects from places like Gortin, Fintona, Plumbridge and Castlederg right across to Victoria Bridge, Newtownstewart, Ballymagorry, Artigarvan and as far as Garvaghy. People come to me with photographs of crater-like potholes, as referred to by Mr McElduff, right across the constituency. I have to ask why successive Ministers have let our roads get into such a terrible state. I know that budgets are constrained, but when you travel from Belfast to Bangor or along the Ards peninsula, you see that the roads are nearly pristine in comparison with ours. It almost highlights the level of neglect in rural constituencies such as my own. <BR /> <BR />The last point that I want to focus on is deaths on the roads.”
“Last year, it is understood that there were 600 claims made against the Department for Regional Development for damage to vehicles caused by the state of rural roads, almost 200 of which came from the west of the Province, which is a testament to the state of our roads and what gave rise to Mr McElduff's debate. In the previous mandate, I tabled a question for written answer to the Minister on the number of potholes reported and filled in across West Tyrone. The figures are stark. In 2013, 96% of road surface defects were corrected. In 2014, this figure dropped to 87%. In 2015, the figure dropped significantly to 63%. If that is not evidence of the blatant neglect of our roads, nothing is.”
“Nearly every day, my constituents, like Mr McElduff and his Sinn Féin colleagues', as well as Ross and Tom's, are telling me, "We pay our rates and road tax like everybody else, so why are the roads in such a terrible condition in West Tyrone, and why are we being ignored?" In West Tyrone, it is well known, given that we are a border constituency, that Donegal's roads are quite terrible, and I have heard many comparisons of late suggesting that our roads are very similar, if not worse in certain parts, to those of our neighbouring county. <BR /> <BR />On a more serious note, unrepaired potholes can cause serious damage to many cars on our roads.”
“The people of West Tyrone are thus heavily reliant on their own transport for work and to access health services, hospitals, education facilities, banks and post offices. Access to those services can be a big challenge, and it is vital that the communities have the proper roads infrastructure in place to accommodate such need. <BR /> <BR />There is growing anger and frustration among local people about the decline in the state of the road network. They are angry that the issue does not get the attention that it deserves from the Executive.”
“<BR /> <BR />In the past week, we have also learnt that the Department for Infrastructure's budget will be cut by 9%, and I can only imagine that rural constituencies, such as West Tyrone, will be the first to fall foul of such a budgetary decrease. I call on the Minister, and I am glad that he has stayed to respond to the debate, to outline the nature of the cuts and how they will impact on the roads maintenance budget, especially in the west. <BR /> <BR />I am a strong proponent of green energy and the use of public transport, but public transport across my constituency is not at a level that is required for our people. We have no railway service, and buses do not serve many of our rural communities, at least not consistently enough.”
“I take the opportunity to congratulate the Minister on his recent elevation and also to thank my constituency colleague Barry McElduff for bringing forward this Adjournment debate. <BR /> <BR />Before dealing specifically with West Tyrone, I welcome the Finance Minister's extra £25 million for the Department for Infrastructure. However, I would like to point out that, last week, we heard that the cost of repairing Northern Ireland's crumbling roads has reached a staggering £1 billion. That £1 billion is only to bring our roads up to the requisite standard. It will not give us pristine roads. An extra £25 million in the June monitoring road is merely a drop in the wider ocean of this huge problem.”
“— a profit but to expand and grow in a new region. <BR /> <BR />I will finish on this point. Economically, there needs to be a targeted approach from the Assembly on the areas of most need, which are in infrastructure and jobs, and the leadership needs to come from here.”
“Only £13·1 million was given to the A5 this year, and with two consultation processes already, I hope it is not another empty promise of proper investment. I sincerely hope that the money does not end up within another monitoring round. <BR /> <BR />A necessary skills base remains absolutely vital to the development of a competitive and healthy economy while allowing people to personally prosper. New skills open new opportunities and grant people the tools they need to succeed. Businesses rely on skilled workforces to allow them not only to make —”
“<BR /> <BR />It is not just job opportunities that are lacking in West Tyrone. One of the big disappointments in many rural areas is that we still lack a proper road infrastructure, and that directly contributes to regional imbalance. Motorways, such as the A5 and A6, will allow all businesses from all over the North greater access to markets, boost travel efficiencies and allow skill bases greater movement. For all that was promised, what we are left with is a £100 million allocation from the Stormont House Agreement and a flurry of activity on a very small section of road.”
“<BR /> <BR />In this mandate, regional imbalance is supposed to be a key priority for the new Programme for Government framework, but if the last Programme for Government is anything to go by, with almost half of the targets not delivered, I do not have much confidence that the new one will deliver positive change. <BR /> <BR />The new framework does not have any specific targets, measurables or increments on how it will change the economic fortunes of the people across my constituency and others that have suffered from decades of neglect. We were even told last year that Ministers here were taking responsibility for the generational neglect of the north-west and the west. The ministerial subgroup on economic inactivity for the north-west has met only twice since then, the second time with 24 hours' notice.”
“Each week, I hear about the awfulness that is faced by some young people across my constituency — their depression, anxiety and frustration, which sometimes leads to high levels of addiction and alcohol and drug abuse and, sometimes, given the reality, suicide. This awfulness could have been avoided had there been meaningful work and had they been given some hope and aspiration for a better future here at home, close to their families and in their own communities. This underscores the failure of successive Ministers to spread the wealth-generating potential of the North across all those who live here.”
“It comes as no surprise that my town of Strabane in the constituency of West Tyrone consistently tops the UK deprivation charts year on year, and that is having dramatic repercussions for people. Strabane is falling foul of chronic unemployment and decades of underinvestment. I see this each and every day across my constituency. There is multigenerational neglect, with people stuck in a cycle of poverty, left with little hope and no aspiration. Young people are leaving in their droves to find greater economic opportunities elsewhere, simply and sadly because they see no future here, certainly not west of the Bann. This may be a difficult pill for this House to swallow, but one that we must collectively deal with and fast. <BR /> <BR />Those are the ones that got away.”
“In the last three and a half years, over 80% of funding that was offered by Invest NI for indigenous businesses was made to those in the east. This comes despite the well-documented, historic underinvestment in communities west of the Bann, where villages and towns teeter on the brink of instability. West Tyrone has received only 2·1% of the overall financial assistance that is available by Invest NI, so it is no surprise that this inequality is haunting my local community and has done for decades. <BR /> <BR />Regional inequality is evident if we look at Ards and North Down, for example, which has the highest rates of employment and economic activity at 73·8% and 76·2% respectively. This is in stark contrast to my area of Strabane, which held the lowest level of employment at 56·6% and of economic activity at 66·5%.”
“Madam Principal Deputy Speaker, I take this opportunity to congratulate you on your new role. I support the amendment to this very important motion, not only as an MLA for West Tyrone but as the SDLP spokesperson for infrastructure. <BR /> <BR />In the North of this island, the east-west divide remains as stark as ever. Nearly 20 years after the Good Friday Agreement and peace, there has been a failure to address the serious skills and infrastructure deficits that have squandered long-term strategies and crucial business regeneration west of the Bann. Information that was obtained by 'The Detail' last year shows this stark underinvestment in deprived communities across Northern Ireland, but particularly in the west and rural areas. This is something that we have known for some time, but the figures are absolutely overwhelming.”
“I thank the Minister for his answers so far. He will be aware that, since 2010, only about 60 new social housing properties have been built in West Tyrone. That represents the lowest number of builds in any constituency across the North. Considering the massive waiting list, with half the people on it in housing stress, does the Minister agree that it is time for action to deliver for the many people and families who are suffering across my constituency?”
“I thank the Minister for his answers so far. I am sure that he would agree that it is very important that the Prison Service reflects the entire community in its workforce. What is the percentage of Catholic and female recruits?”
“I thank the Minister for his answers so far. How many of the sites being explored under licence are anticipated to require unconventional extraction techniques, such as hydraulic fracturing?”
“Thank you, First Minister, for your answer. What is your assessment of the need to include child poverty in the new Programme for Government to ensure that no child in West Tyrone — in any constituency, for that matter — is disadvantaged by poverty and deprivation?”
“Thank you for your answers so far, First Minister. During the transport Minister's announcement of the consultation, she said that the development of the A5 would be subject to the successful completion of statutory procedures. How confident is the Minister that such procedures will be overcome and that the A5 will be delivered for the people of the west?”