SDLP Foyle MLA Sinead McLaughlin
The review is to be carried out by the former chairman of the BBC, Sir Michael Lyons.
Said the Foyle MLA: “I very much welcome the decision of the economy minister to include a review of Invest NI’s sub-regional performance as part of Sir Michael Lyons’ wider review of the agency.
“I have been demanding that Invest NI be given a clear remit to address sub-regional inequalities from the time I became an MLA – indeed even before I became an MLA.
“The existing remit of Invest NI dated from an earlier review, led by Richard Barnett, the former vice chancellor of Ulster University.
“The Barnett review unfortunately concluded that Invest NI should not promote any particular part of NI for new investment.
“That in my view, and in the view of my party, was always a mistake. It is also now a very old policy decision that was ripe for being changed.
“The approval by minister Gordon Lyons of this new review reflects the commitment of New Decade New Approach to create a more regionally balanced economy.
“It was a commitment demanded by my party leader Colum Eastwood.
“While a new policy direction favouring regional balance would potentially support more investment and job creation in Derry and Strabane, which have the worst problem of unemployment, it should also assist other areas, including deprived parts of Belfast.”
McLaughlin was responding to a written ministerial answer from Economy Minister Gordon Lyons.
The terms of reference of the review include examining sub-regional delivery by Invest NI.
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