Northern Ireland election 2023: Cost-of-living dominates in Derry
- Published
Voters will elect 40 councillors to Derry City and Strabane District Council
"I love this town, I always have," the warm words of former US President Bill Clinton as he left a sunny Guildhall Square in Londonderry last month.
Huge crowds gathered to get selfies and catch a glimpse of the man who helped encourage politicians to sign up to the Good Friday Agreement 25 years ago.
But behind the smiles there was a community suffering public-sector cuts to vital services.
They say they want local politicians to start listening and acting.
In the Galliagh Community Centre, which was opened a year ago at a cost of £1.5m, there is a vibrant self-help attitude among the volunteers.
One of them is Anne McKeever, a founder of the Galliagh Women's Group which started about 30 years ago.
It provides a range of community services, from yoga, arts and crafts, and a sewing club to a luncheon service several days each week.
She sums up the mood: "Due to the cost-of-living problems, this is now a warm hub and gives people the chance to come in out of the cold, to get a day out of the house so they are not using their heating all the time.
"We also put on hot food for people who can't afford it and they come three days a week here and can get a hot dinner.
"And because of the bills... My own bills, for example - they are ridiculous. There's some people who come in here and they are really in a terrible bad way. "
Politicians pop in from time to time and also correspond with the centre, but she thinks they could do more.
"Their hands are tied too. The funding is all tied up," she said.
As for the deadlock at Stormont, she has a simple request: "I wish everybody would go back in and start the talks."
Anne McKeever thinks politicians could do more
Outside the Galliagh Community Centre the lamp posts are adorned with some of the faces of those who want to be elected to the Guildhall Chamber.
Derry City and Strabane District Council has 40 members.
The picture heading into this election is Sinn Fein 11, Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) 11, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) 5, Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) 3, Alliance 2, People Before Profit 2, Aontú 1 and independents 5.
Last time out in 2019 was a difficult election for Sinn Féin, which lost five seats and ended up sharing top spot with the SDLP, which at one time totally dominated the old 30-seat Derry City Council.
For Sinn Féin this will be an election of consolidation - the party has a few new faces who are standing in their first election and some well-known figures too.
The SDLP has lost one of its most popular members in Angela Dobbins - a former deputy mayor - who has decided to retire.
The party is hoping to improve its performance in Derry and Strabane.
The retaking of the Foyle Westminster seat from Sinn Féin by Colum Eastwood in December 2019 buoyed the party at a local level - but the SDLP leader knows there is pressure on him to deliver a strong performance.
He dismissed talk of his leadership being under the spotlight at the party conference in March - but privately he knows that a poor performance will see those questions re-emerge.
The council meets at the Guildhall in Derry
Within unionism, there is another big battle for the DUP to retain its seats.
It won seven seats last time but then two of its councillors left the fold.
There is also a question about a possible Alliance surge.
In 2019 Alliance got two councillors to the chamber - the first time the party had representatives in the area since the 1970s.
Could they add to that number?
The election of 2014 was dubbed "Independents Day" by some sections of the media due to the strong personal performance of some of the candidates.
Some have retained strong electoral support and will be hoping to do well again.
People Before Profit will be hoping to retain its two sitting councillors and Aontú's sole representative rounds up the picture in Derry City and Strabane as it currently stands.
It is the cost-of-living crisis that has dominated debate.
There is concern over a perceived lack of inward investment and potential job losses at the city's largest employer - the technology company Seagate - which employs almost 1,400 people on Buncrana Road.
Infrastructure has improved with the opening of the new A6 dual carriageway between Drumahoe and Dungiven - but there is still an energised campaign by the rail lobby group Into the West to vastly improve and expand rail network connectivity.
And the demand for 10,000 students at the Magee campus of Ulster University never goes away.
Funding uncertainty
The outgoing council introduced a rates increase of almost 8% and is cutting a range of services to the tune of £3.5m.
It has, however, promised to maintain critical frontline services and protect jobs.
But it is the big picture and what is not happening at Stormont that is taking centre stage on the banks of the Foyle.
In the Waterside it is a familiar story in the Caw Community Centre where there are fears for the jobs of four staff who work in the centre.
There is funding uncertainty at the Caw Community Centre
May Burton has been a volunteer there for what she describes as a great many years.
The 85-year-old said the community centre is valuable for everyone who uses it but there is uncertainty over funding.
"You know, you wait every year for this but hopefully we'll get it again," she said.
"Everybody's the same - their funding is not as good as it was and we don't know whether we'll get it or not."
She said councillors should be doing a lot more than what they are doing to help local people.
The northern editor of the Irish Times, Freya McClements, said the election will help formulate the DUP's future strategy.
"I think inevitably it's going to be viewed as a bit of a referendum on the DUP's decision to continue the boycott of the Stormont institutions," she said.
"The DUP is not feeling under any particular pressure at the moment to go back in because is is not feeling that pressure from their voters, so that would be the thing to watch when those results come in."
Over recent months all elected representatives have received a tongue lashing on the picket lines from nurses, post office and gritter staff who feel they have not done enough for them in terms of their pay and conditions.
It is certainly going to be an interesting election.
Will the people deliver the votes for the politicians - or rub salt in their wounds?
- Published17 May 2023
- Published27 April 2023
