Ms Margaret Ritchie:

I welcome the representatives from Warrenpoint Chamber of Commerce, whom I travelled with this morning, and their counterparts from Dundalk Chamber of Commerce. It seems I have been working with them collectively for a lifetime to deliver this most important project that will link Cooley in County Louth with my constituency of South Down, particularly Warrenpoint and the Mourne Mountains.

I am in no doubt about the economic and social benefits this will bring to south Down in terms of opening up an avenue of investment that has not been available to us until now for visitors, tourism, investment and new business. In Warrenpoint, planning permission has been granted for vacant buildings in the square to be converted to retail businesses. That would not have happened without the good news about the bridge. The planning authorities on both sides of the Border have provided planning approval, marine consents have been provided, along with funding from SEUPB to the tune of €17.4 million and the Irish Government has provided matched funding of up to €4 million. The only outstanding elements are the bridge order to facilitate navigation, which is currently out to consultation. The committee will recall that Newry and Mourne Council, Louth County Council and the DRD have provided the funding that will adjust the mussel boats, allowing navigation under the bridge when it opens. That impediment will be removed.

The remaining impediment is the outstanding funding, about €2 million for the Northern Ireland Executive. The Northern Ireland Assembly has already approved a motion on a majority vote in November indicating this project would have major economic and social implications for the whole of the area between south Down and County Louth. I ask both chambers of commerce what they foresee as the forthcoming economic and social implications once the bridge is complete. How will it transform our landscape and economy?