Appeal to Minister after £5.3m funding returned to Stormont

Appeal to Minister after £5.3m funding returned to Stormont

7 May 2025

AN eleventh hour appeal has been issued to Stormont’s Finance Minister to return some of the £5.3m flood recovery funding for Downpatrick which was handed back to the NI Executive.

The appeal has been made to Caoimhe Archibald by the Downpatrick and Co Down Railway which  says it is “profoundly disappointed” with the decision.

It was confirmed last month that half of a £10m funding pot to help beleaguered businesses in Downpatrick and Newry swamped by catastrophic flooding in November 2023 was returned unspent.

The railway was badly affected by the flood after the Quoile river burst its banks, leaving its volunteers with a repair bill of almost £3m.

Local politicians and members of the Downpatrick business community said they were “at a complete loss” to understand why a single penny of the flood support money had to be returned.

Demands were issued that money is found to assist with the economic regeneration of the county town and a full explanation why just half the £10m was spent.

In February last year, the Department for the Economy announced details of the £10m scheme for local councils to deliver an enhanced flood support scheme which provided up to £100,000 to flooded businesses and two hardship schemes.

The scheme was administered by Newry, Mourne and Down Council which revealed a total of £4.7m was  issued in letters of offer.

The Department for Economy has confirmed that any unspent money has been reallocated across the department to meet other capital pressures.

Railway chairman, Robert Gardiner, has written to Dr Archibald expressing “profound disappointment” that over £5m was handed back and has invited the Stormont minister and her senior officials to visit the heritage railway to discuss how some of the unspent money could be returned and to view the work the charity does in the community and the challenges its faces moving forward.

Mr Gardiner said that while the railway fully appreciated the pressures and challenges involved in managing public money and the stringent need to conserve public funds, it was “extremely difficult to reconcile” this with the charity’s serious and ongoing needs in the wake of the 2023 flood.

He said that despite the “significant and demonstrable physical damage” the railway sustained, its financial support was capped at £100,000 under the relief scheme.

“This ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, suitable perhaps for a typical high street retailer, simply does not reflect the scale and complexity of the damage suffered by an operational railway,” Mr Gardiner said.

“Unlike a conventional business, our infrastructure includes several 19th Century bridges, historic rolling stock and a site that supports significant tourism, volunteering and social enterprise activity across the wider Downpatrick area and throughout Northern Ireland and beyond.”

Mr Gardiner said the railway estimated that around £300,000 may be required for essential repairs to bridges following the effects of the floods.

‘In addition, there are potentially up to £2.3m of repairs required throughout the site, ranging from carriages and locomotives to structures and buildings that form the core of Ireland’s only full-size heritage railway experience,” he continued.

“We are currently exploring other potential sources of funding to undertake such capital projects. However, streams such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund are designed for ‘normal’ project development timescales, not urgent needs following a natural disaster.”

Mr Gardiner has informed Dr Archibald that while the heritage railway has reopened, it is currently operating with only one of its vehicles available for public use, with others still undergoing repair.

He said other infrastructure issues also need addressed, which was a “precarious situation for any business which potentially puts two filming contracts in doubt”.

Mr Gardiner said it was “extremely disheartening” to see funds returned to the NI Executive when organisations like the local railway – which underpin both social value and local economic resilience – are still facing an uncertain future. 

Mr Gardiner said the railway continues to be a “key player” in Northern Ireland’s visitor economy, providing volunteering, training, heritage conservation and social inclusion opportunities and unique visitor experiences to thousands annually. 

He said that for every £1 spent on the railway, between £6 and £8 was generated in the local economy, describing this as an “outstanding return on investment”.

Appealing to Dr Archibald, he continued: “Without further support, our ability to deliver outcomes that directly align with Department for the Economy strategies remains at risk.

“We urge your Department to reflect on how future flood relief schemes could better accommodate the realities faced by individual organisations, rather than applying a ‘one-size-fits-all’ programme.

“And we would also ask whether some of the unspent funding that has been returned could, even at this late stage, be reallocated to organisations able to demonstrate further need, to assist in bridging the significant financial gap that remains.”