West Belfast Sinn Féin Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Jennifer McCann MLA delivers speech at event with US investment group

Published: 22 October, 2009

''Céad mile failte roimh go Iarthar Bhéal Feirste.

On behalf of the MP for this area, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams, and all the people of this constituency, I would like to welcome every one of you to west Belfast.

For many of our guests, this will be your first visit to west Belfast.

One third of the citizens of this City live in west Belfast. 24% of them are under 16 years of age.

West Belfast has a more youthful profile than anywhere else in the north.

This is the labour force - and the life force - of a future Belfast.

It's the home to the biggest urban gaeltacht, or Irish language speaking community, in Ireland.

It's home to Feile an Phobail, one of the biggest community festivals in western Europe.

It's home to the historic unionist communities of Shankill and Suffolk. And it's my home.

Like Gerry Adams and other Sinn Féin representatives, we don't just talk about the community.

We live in this community. It's part of who we are.

And what's the character of this community?

Spirit and self-help - enterprise and invention.

Mar a deirtear as gaelige, Ní neart go cur le cheile.

When public transport was cut off to west Belfast, we didn't sit at home. West Belfast started a taxi service.

Those black taxis still operate today.

When government agencies would not invest in jobs here, the community started Whiterock co-operative enterprises.

That initiative has reaped what it sowed. The Whiterock site is now home to Noel McKenna's company, APTX.

There is no shortage of wit and will power.

What we have been missing are willing partners.

I'm sure you will have heard talk about Belfast's quarters - Cathedral, Queens and Titanic.

But the patent belongs to west Belfast.

Gerry Adams first proposed the concept of a Cultural Quarter, as an economic catalyst, in 1996.

Maybe it was an idea whose time had not yet come. Or maybe for some people, it came from the wrong quarter.

In any case, today, as you have heard from Sean Misteal, the Gaeltacht Quarter is being grown around us.

Of course, we need to connect the whole city into this cultural quarter. To enable this, a new rapid transit system has been proposed for Belfast by my Sinn Féin colleague Conor Murphy, Minister Regional Development.

And we need to connect people and cities on this island. There is now a need, more than ever, for the island economy to be brought into being in the fullest sense.

I think business people recognize and value the logic of the island economy. It's not some political fantasy.

Belfast is the second largest city on this island. We've come through the worst of wars in this city. But not so many years ago, the same could be said for Dublin, Cork and Limerick among others. It's a heritage all of us own.

What counts today is what we do next.

We have built a robust peace process.

We have built power-sharing institutions.

We are forging a new policing dispensation.

But we still have to undo some of the damage of the past.

It's not only possible, but necessary, to build economic growth on a new foundation of justice equality.

Particularly in a transitional society emerging from conflict, such as our own in Ireland, economic growth that does not systematically promote equality is not sustainable in the long-term.

The sensible and smart approach to sustainable development is one that builds the outcomes of equality into the objectives of economy.

That's good for private business and public benefit.

It is that approach of developing solid investment opportunities within a framework of delivering equality that can - and must - underpin the potential of our future partnership. No one can be left behind.

In this room today we have people who are showing how.

Under the excellent and enduring stewardship of Padraic White and his co-chair John Simpson, the West Belfast and Shankill Economic Task Force was brought into life.

That was 7 years ago. Under direct rule, concerted efforts were made to thwart this pioneering series of proposals.

Now, thankfully under local Ministers, the Task Force has been incorporated in our first Programme for Government - a Programme premised on growing economic prosperity in a way that tackles ongoing poverty.

One of the Task Force's most successful offshoots so far has been the Enterprise Council, our hosts today.

I would like to thank the Council members and their staff, Donna and Tony, for today's event.

Other Task Force concepts include the Employers Forum and the Employment Services Board.

Together with our Area Partnership Boards, these bodies demonstrate how the people of west Belfast and the greater Shankill are promoting an authentic and intelligent economic agenda we can all support.

All of this manifests the calibre of community and business leaders throughout west Belfast. And we are determined to move forward to get delivery through local institutions.

In discussions led by Gerry Adams we have been devising a proposal for an asset-backed local delivery vehicle to connect local regeneration into the heart of government.

This is all about people - their rights and entitlements -and their place in life.

By ensuring no one gets left behind or forgotten, we can secure all our futures.

I hope you will work with us to achieve that.

Go raibh maith agaibh.''