Doherty challenging Invest NI on Strabane Investment
West Tyrone Sinn Féin MP Pat Doherty is seeking answers from Invest NI as to the
level and detail of grant aid funding to economic projects in Strabane District
since the inception of the body charged with assisting economic development
in the six counties, and for a comparative breakdown of investment by the
body in other Council areas and Constituencies.
Mr Doherty said,
"The
recent revelation that economic projects in the relatively prosperous Constituency
of South Belfast received more grant aid funding from Invest NI than all of
the constituencies west of the Bann put together serves to strengthen the
perception that the body is merely reinforcing the East of the Bann/West of
the Bann economic divide instead of attempting to redress this unjust
historical imbalance by targeting resources on the basis of need.
"I
believe that the response by Invest NI to the information I have requested
will further highlight the major disparity between where Invest NI resources
are badly needed, particularly in areas like Strabane, and where these
resources are being actually allocated.
"Therefore, in my letters
to Invest NI Chief Executive Leslie Morrison and INI Chairperson Stephen
Kingon, I have also sought details, if there any, of Invest NI's current and
future plans to eschew grant aid and practical assistance to projects within
Targeting Social Need priority areas like Strabane District in line with
overarching government equality imperatives.
"I believe
that it is essential to challenge government and its agencies such as Invest
NI to live up to their equality obligations and begin to allocate resources
and investment to areas like Strabane, where they are most acutely needed.
ENDS