Mr. Jim Boylan:

I thank the Chairman and the committee for allowing us to speak on this important matter of the Good Friday Agreement, which is now 15 years old. In our area, Mourne, Louth and Carlingford Lough, it is not working for us. Narrow Water Bridge ticks so many boxes in the Good Friday Agreement, which refers to rights, safeguards and equality of opportunity in section 6. There is a lack of economic growth and we have pursued the Narrow Water Bridge project as a means of increasing economic growth in our area. Aspects of the business case put forward by Louth County Council show that employment growth potential after the completion of the bridge will be upwards of 270 jobs. With such spending power in our local economy, we see further potential for growth. Our emphasis is not only on tourism, but also local commerce.

The project also ticks boxes in respect of social cohesion in urban, rural and Border areas. We live in a Border area that has become, in recent years, inaccessible. The documentation we have provided shows we have had contact with our neighbours from the earliest times. When we lost the Warrenpoint-Omeath ferry, communities on both sides of the lough suffered. The tourism industry died and the Narrow Water Bridge is our means of regeneration. Not only have we rekindled cross-Border relationships in pursuit of the project, it has brought both communities along the Mourne coastal region much closer. We see our future as being dependent on one another. Warrenpoint, Kilkeel, Newcastle, Omeath and Carlingford cannot survive on their own. We must co-operate along the coast and across the Border to survive. Relationships between the communities in the Mourne coastal communities have improved beyond recognition in pursuit of this project. One of our members said that creating employment, retaining employment, putting food on the table, filling oil tanks, and keeping the doors of our businesses open surmounts any divisions. Divisions remain but constant conversations have been breaking down the barriers between ourselves and our neighbours.

The Agreement also states that it should strengthen physical infrastructure, producing new approaches to transport. The Narrow Water Bridge does this. It ticks all the boxes in this instance. The bridge is there to unite people on a social level and on an economic level, a bridge to renew the access formerly enjoyed by the people of Omeath, Carlingford and Warrenpoint to professional and commercial services and co-operation between emergency services and health and education services in their everyday lives. The Northern Ireland Executive and the Assembly were obliged to introduce an economic development strategy for Northern Ireland. We have seen little of this.

We see this development as a self-help strategy for our area. We cannot wait any longer. The people on both sides of the lough see and have pursued the bridge as our contribution to the economic growth of our area. The bridge is shovel ready with guaranteed planning permission and 80% funding but we cannot seem to be able to get the commitment of the finance department of the Stormont government. This project is at the heart of the Good Friday Agreement and it should be done. The bridge is 280 m long, but to us it is half a world away, and we need to see action on it now.