DUP leader and Deputy First Minister attend party's South Antrim Business Breakfast event at The Dunadry

THE cost of dealing with waste and a lack of investment in waste water infrastructure were on the agenda last week at South Antrim DUP’s Business Breakfast event at The Dunadry hotel.

Special guests were party leader Gavin Robinson MP and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly.

Councillors, MLAs including South Antrim reps Trevor Clarke and Pam Cameron and former Antrim and Newtownabbey rep Phillip Brett, now a North Belfast Assembly member, were all in attendance.

Antrim Chamber of Commerce Members took a table, while representatives from national bodies including Construction Employers Federation, the Federation of Small Businesses and Manufacturing NI were also present.

Sole traders, micro-businesses and major employers were there too.

Airport Alderman Matthew Magill opened proceedings and he and Ballyclare Councillor Jeannie Archibald-Brown and party worker Ryan McMullan were praised for helping to organise the event.

Alderman Magill highlighted recent news that Antrim and Newtownabbey has been named as one of the UK’s most promising places for business growth in 2026, according to new analysis released by Growth Flag, the UK data intelligence platform.

This ranking also saw it identified as the strongest performing region in Northern Ireland with 12 per cent high growth potential.

He also noted an investment showcase event in Westminster in December where Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council launched its latest investment proposition branded ‘Antrim Newtownabbey: AN Investment that delivers’.

Through this strategy, the region has its sights ‘firmly set on key growth sectors such as advanced manufacturing, logistics and supply chain management, aerospace, and health and life sciences’.

In 2024, Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council was named the Overall Council of the Year 2024 at the APSE Awards, becoming the only council in Northern Ireland to be nominated.

Recognised for outstanding service delivery, the council also won Best Service Team for its Bereavement and Cemetery Services.

The council was also runner-up in the 2025 competition.

Mr Magill reminded the audience that the borough was ‘punching above its weight’.

Former South Antrim MP Paul Girvan said grace before the breakfast began, and Dunadry owner Eugene McKeever and general manager Malachy McCollum were thanked for their hospitality.

Hospitality was another hot topic, with news that Finance Minister John O’Dowd announced a pause in the process which would have seen large rates increases for many in the sector.

Draft property revaluations published by Land and Property services would have seen some businesses, including pubs and hotels, facing hugely increased rates bills from 1 April.

Mr Brett was praised by Mr Robinson for challenging Mr O’Dowd in the Assembly over the increases.

During her speech, Mrs Little-Pengelly praised Belfast International Airport and its’ investment plans and said she was recently in attendance at a conference for ADS, the aerospace, defence and security trade body.

She warned against elements of the proposals for a Good Jobs Bill, which she said could make it harder for businesses to recruit, retain and afford more employees.

The Deputy First Minister also expressed concern about the lack of speed on reducing Corporation Tax and the size of the public sector in Northern Ireland, versus the service it was delivering.

She said that ‘progress over process’ was required, and a commitment to ‘stop the sludge’ of slow-moving bureaucracy, which was stifling economic growth.

Ms Little-Pengelly also issued a clarion call from the ADS conference to ‘cut out the stupid’.

Mr Robinson hailed Mr Clarke and Mrs Cameron as ‘the Torville and Dean of South Antrim politics’ and hailed their hard work in helping businesses across the constituency.

He spoke about the Family Farm Tax and noted that business properties were subject to the same inheritance tax proposals.

Topically, he pointed out that 35 per cent of Belfast City Council’s £180-£200m annual running costs is dedicated to waste and the disposal of waste.

He said that the Executive had approved the appointment of a Climate Commissioner, concerned with issues like ‘air pollution and insulation in houses’.

He said that there were ‘bonkers proposals’ to encourage all councils to do away with co-mingled recycling, as had been recently seen in the borough.

While he represents East Belfast, Mr Robinson lives in Dundonald.

Pointing out the disparity of recycling schemes in different areas, he said: “My recycling bin is smaller than my lunch box, in Belfast, my fathers has a bin that I can get in.

“We are told that you can’t put glass and cardboard in the same box as it will save money and be more efficient, but it is not efficient for ratepayers, who will buck it in the black bin.”

He slammed delays to the Arc 21 incinerator project, now over 15 years in the planning and Dalradian mining proposals, which were first mooted in 2009.

Mr Robinson spoke about The Wastewater Infrastructure Group - representing housing, construction and business organisations including the Construction Employers Federation, the Chartered Institute of Housing, the Northern Ireland Federation of Housing Associations, Manufacturing NI and NI Chamber.

The group is renewing a call for an Infrastructure Levy, payable through the rates system, which would represent £1.25 per household per week or £65 per annum to create an investment model for NI Water and enable stalled housing, industrial and regeneration projects to proceed.

He said that previous, similar suggestions had been shot down by the Infrastructure Minister as ‘water charges by stealth’.

However the First Minister said that major improvements were needed in the foul and stormwater networks and that businesses and farms were already paying water charges.

Mr Robinson said that the same people who opposed ‘a £1.25 levy’: “Are crying about Lough Neagh when it is being pumped full of sewage by NI Water.”

He said that an increase in water rates should not be used to plug an overall gap in the public sector, adding that successive overspending of the Executive budget has been used to cover pay rises in the civil service.

“The water and sewage networks need investment. Water rates should not be a cash cow to plug gaps in the budget.”

The floor was then opened for a question and answer session.

Roger Pollen, Head of the Federation of Small Businesses in Northern Ireland, encouraged the audience to look at elements of the Good Jobs Bill, saying that some could be very damaging, including increased power and reach of trade unions.

He added: “We must do good law or don’t do law.”

Mr Robinson said that the recent change of decision over the rates revaluation showed that lobbying and campaigning was effective and that ‘we can’t take our foot off the pedal’.

Emma Little-Pengelly said: “We are not opposed to ‘good jobs’ but we are opposed to economic damage.”

On a brighter note, Mr Robinson said he had been present at the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee visit to Global Point and the Advanced Manufacturing and Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre during the week.

He said that former MP Mr Girvan had helped secure that investment and other City Deals-adjacent funding during his term back in 2017.

Mr Clarke said: “I was really pleased to be at this event and the feedback and engagement during and after was overwhelmingly positive.”