OPINION: Derry has been left behind by Tommy Mullan

The second car was a small red car and the window was rolled down and who is it but Gerry Adams. And the guy explained to him I did a lot of community work. And I asked them when it was all going to end and was told, ‘That's what we are here for, for peace talks’. Those talks in Derry were before the Belfast talks and the Good Friday Agreement.

A few days later I was out walking up past McCorkell's house and the place was surrounded by police and army. That was where the first peace talks were. It would never have happened in Belfast only for Derry, and the second peace talks were in Redcastle in Donegal, where they brought people like John Hume and all. Then you had then the Good Friday Agreement.

But when President Biden came he didn't come to the Maiden city. It shows how we are forgotten about here. They are talking about investment but all this investment seems to be going in one direction and one direction only. Rishi Sunak too is talking about investment and it's going to be great, but what is Derry getting?

In times past the McCorkells kept grain where the City Hotel was and they shipped it out mainly to Canada and America. My father was a docker and usually worked on the coal boats - it was a hard job but if there was no coal boats they worked on the grain boats. McCorkells employed quite a lot of people. At that time you had ships right down to Sainsbury's. Before the docks were moved there were 250 dockers on the books.

What we said 40 years ago in the old Nationalist Party that the west bank of the Foyle would get very little and the dividing line would be the River Foyle. The chickens have come home to roost. Derry gets very little. Investing in Northern Ireland means investing in Belfast. Even travelling on the roads, they are a disgrace. The people sitting in Westminster might as well be sitting up in a field in Galliagh, they'd get more satisfaction.

Our young people are moving away, not coming back. There is nothing here from them and we have to think about our young people. We are losing the talent. You always hear of companies coming to Belfast because of the expertise. We have just as many people capable of doing those jobs and the schools here always get high marks. It’s time the people and politicians sit up and say, ‘hold on a minute, why is the people here in Derry not getting the same? We are not asking for anything spectacular, we want our fair share of jobs, and any American or other investment coming in. We want a fair crack of the whip.

Derry people were always very willing to work. Give our people that chance.