DETI Slammed Over Broadband Hubs

A member of the Northern Ireland Assembly has said Newry has been badly treated by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Industry in making decisions on high-speed broadband hubs for Project Kelvin

SDLP Newry and Armagh MLA Dominic Bradley raised the issue in a special Adjournment Debate motion.

"The original map of the route of Project Kelvin published by Hibernia Atlantic showed that Newry had been bypassed by the cable while Dundalk, Castleblayney, Monaghan and Armagh were linked," said Mr Bradley.

"The business and commercial community in Newry were naturally extremely unhappy with this arrangement considering the fact that DETI had as recently as September 2006 that it would continue to target 30% of the Northern Ireland population by designating the six most deprived Council areas in Northern Ireland, together with the most disadvantaged areas of Belfast, as the focus for activities aimed at tackling poverty and social need.

"The six Council areas, selected by using the new data available from the 2005 Noble Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure, are Newry & Mourne, Strabane, Derry, Omagh, Cookstown and Dungannon.

"The EQIA (Equality Impact Assessment) on Project Kelvin emphasised that areas designated as disadvantaged would be afforded priority status. In bypassing Newry, DETI ignored its own policies."

He continued: "There is huge public frustration in the Newry and Mourne area at the way in which DETI handled Project Kelvin.

"The same was true in Derry but the situation there has been rectified – that has not been the case with Newry. DETI has effectively washed its hands of the matter, insisting that it is now the responsibility of the private sector.

"When we compare levels of government investment in Newry to other comparable centres in the North we see very clearly that Newry has very much been under-invested in.

"We were used to that sort of treatment under the old Stormont but we certainly will not accept it under the present administration," he complained.

(NS/GK)