The first phase of the ground’s redevelopment was completed in 2018 at a cost of about £7m
Said Cllr Harkin: “We share the widespread disappointment that’s been voiced over the failure to move forward with the upgrade of the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.
“Derry demands a top-quality football stadium and the type of serious investment that we’ve seen elsewhere.
“The DUP’s reckless political stunt simply underscores the failure of the Executive to deliver on commitments to Derry and the North West.
“The destructive role of the DUP is transparent but where was the Sinn Fein Minister for Communities urgency to develop the Brandywell until now? It didn’t exist. Handing millions to the Royal County Down Golf club has been far more important.
“Once again Executive parties are obscuring their failure to deliver for Derry with pointscoring. This is nothing new and is the reason why so many people are fed-up with the Stormont communal carve-up.
“The Brandywell stadium can be added to the many other crucial projects this Executive has failed to deliver on.
“The Derry-Coleraine rail upgrade was supposed to have been completed last year – instead we get yet another feasibility study.
“Expanding Magee to a 10,000 student campus was written into the New Decade New Approach agreement but we have been told the goal is now 6,000 students – without a peep of protest from the big parties in Derry.
“The toxic Mobuoy dump still festers on the outskirts of the city threatening our drinking water and the local ecosystem but nothing has been done to clean it up.
“There has been no targeted attempt to address the fact Derry has 30% of people living below the poverty line – and these are statistics pre-pandemic and pre-cost of living crisis.
“This represents a continued legacy of broken promises. No amount of cynical pointscoring or sudden urgency by the political establishment can undo this failure.
“We need to build a real alternative backed up by people power pressure for the change Derry and all our communities need.”
