It has been 23 years in the making, but there is finally a doctor in the house. New South Belfast MP, Dr Alasdair McDonnell, fresh from making his maiden speech in Westminster, spoke to the South Belfast News about his vision for the constituency and the issues he is keen to address over the next four years.
Q: Alasdair, firstly congratulations on winning the seat. Now you've been elected, what do you see as the single most important issue facing South Belfast over the next four years?
A: It's something that relates to the whole of Northern Ireland, not just Belfast and that's economic growth and stability. I am genuinely frightened that once various funding and peace monies collapse or dry up, our internal economy will not be strong enough to sustain itself.
The growth that we experienced around the time of the 1993-1994 ceasefires inspired confidence, which is now seeping away.
I would now like to find a mechanism that, regardless of political background, allows all interests to come together and put Belfast back together.
It just takes initiative from all sides and then I think that we could achieve the desired knock-on affect.
South Belfast is famously seen as an affluent part of the city, when in fact it contains some of the most disadvantaged areas anywhere in the North of Ireland.
Q: Which of these areas would you target as being most in need of attention?
A: I would look at nationalist working class areas like the Markets and lower Ormeau Road as well as loyalist communities in places like the Village and Donegall Pass.
One of the major keys for these areas is, I believe, education. Unless you're educating people and providing them with skills then you're shutting off economic opportunities for them.
I think this is particularly true for loyalist areas, where there is probably less of an educational tradition.
I remember being involved in the Civil Rights movement in the late 60s and early 70s. What drove us was poverty, disadvantage and lack of justice for nationalists.
We learned through that to help ourselves a bit.
For the Protestant community, who were traditionally insular and had access to jobs on a hand-me-down basis, education was never seen as a priority. The climate is much different now, of course, and I would say that all-inclusive access to education is absolutely vital for the future of South Belfast's poorer areas.
Q: Do you also think the reason that the most extreme social deprivation in South Belfast in loyalist-controlled areas comes from those communities being ill served by their representatives?
A: Yes, on many occasions. I feel that, again, loyalist communities may be set back by having a tendency to not get past the argument phase whereas I have noticed that in Catholic areas, people may disagree and there may be heated rows but people then make decisions to move forward. I don't see why places like the Village and Sandy Row can't get to that stage also.
What I don't want to see, which would be catastrophic, is these areas being left to crumble and in 10-15 years facing the prospect of a semi-civil war in disadvantaged loyalist areas.
The incidents a couple of years ago around Cluan Place and the Albertbridge Road should serve as a warning not to let this situation slide.
And again, it comes down to the knock-on effect. The lower Ormeau Road is held back if there is a hostile lower Ravenhill Road.
Investments and jobs will not come in that environment and everyone suffers. So it is in South Belfast's interest as a whole to ensure that all areas are brought up to tolerable, liveable standards and that is something that I will be looking at.
Q: Speaking of living standards, South Belfast, as you know, has the densest student population of anywhere in the North with the Holyland being at the epicentre. Tensions between students and residents are well documented. The popular money lays the blame with Council planning policy and developers in the area, turning the Holyland into a student ghetto. What's the answer?
A: I think planning throughout Belfast is a particular issue. Look at the recent furore over the proposed selling off of Hydebank playing fields to a supermarket chain.
This is an ongoing problem in South Belfast with the YMCA grounds at Stranmillis now half built-over and Shane Park on Stockmans Lane making way for the commercial development there.
But to get to the matter in hand, I am very much in sync with the Holyland residents.
They feel squeezed out and marginalised and understandably so. But I would say that responsibility lies with the Department for Social Development and the universities, who really need to get a proper student housing policy off the ground.
What we currently see are three establishments – Queen's, University of Ulster and BIFHE – all placing students into the area. It amounts to about 20,000 in total and the place is overrun as a result.
If it was just Queen's students, then I don't think that there would be a problem.
It does require some creative thinking and I would point to the example of Dublin where universities in the North and South of the city built sizeable student building areas across campuses which created a student hub, away from the built-up areas.
Something similar could be done here.
Queen's could utilise a lot of its space to create student clusters/villages and along with other institutions, provide efficient connections and shuttle buses between accommodation and universities.
This would mean that students wouldn't have to cram into often-poor quality housing in the Holyland.
Q: That's not something that will be achievable in the near future. How do you see the short-term future of the Holyland and the implications for the wider area?
A: The Housing Executive has been driving for properly regulated Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMO) conversions. There is a lot of poor quality housing in the area and this needs to be addressed immediately, with guidelines effectively implemented for health and safety.
There urgently needs to be a mix or a mingle in the Holyland, with better dialogue between student bodies, universities and residents.
I understand that the percentage of residents is down to about only ten percent and they understandably may feel under siege.
Unfortunately there is a small amount of students who misbehave and make it worse for everyone, and that should be stopped.
What we are actually seeing now is the 'Holyland Effect' beginning to spill over to Stranmillis Road, Lisburn Road and even the lower and upper Ormeau Road.
I would be keen for the problem to be addressed sooner rather than later. We need a degree of integration and co-operation to allow the uniqueness of the Holyland to thrive and I will play my part in helping to achieve that.
