The images we’ve seen from recent events in other parts of the country got me thinking. I thought first about the people directly affected. People who came here to work, make a life and become part of our community. I also found myself wondering what those scenes say about the kind of place we are, and why more of us weren’t prepared to say that what we witnessed simply wasn’t right.

In the last few weeks, I also attended a session where Michael Gallagher, the Council’s Senior Economist, talked us through the latest picture of the North West economy. Overall, the picture was very positive. More people are in work than a decade ago and investment is growing, but Michael also talked about population. On current projections, he explained, our council area’s population is expected to fall from around 152,000 today to around 149,000 by 2032.

That made me realise something. If our population is falling, where will the people come from to grow the economy?

I’ve written before about tackling economic inactivity, giving our young people reasons to stay and encouraging our diaspora to return. Those priorities remain important, but perhaps there is another piece of the jigsaw.

People may come here to work, study or create a future. What makes them stay is finding a place where they belong and feel part of the community.

That’s why those scenes matter so much. The images people see in the media shape decisions about whether people come, stay or invest. No one who comes here to make a life should be made to feel they don’t belong. Those scenes also risk undermining everything we have worked hard to build. Every student who decides not to come here, every family who concludes they aren’t wanted and every employer who struggles to attract the people they need takes us further away from the North West we all want to see.

We’ve worked hard to get to this point. Now we’ve got to make the most of it by becoming the kind of place that more people choose to call home.

– Steven Lindsay, President, Londonderry Chamber of Commerce.