The late Martin McGuinness once remarked to me that there would be no Programme for Government at Stormont if there wasn't a commitment to a Medical School on the Magee university campus in Derry in that programme.

That was in 2016. There was no programme for government. No School of Medicine either to put right a 60-year-old injustice perpetrated on Derry when the North's second university was located in Coleraine. 

Flash forward to this dark time of pandemic and we have a much-needed ray of sunshine in the news that the School of Medicine is set fair to open next September.

Anyone who doubts the power of a university to transform a city only needs to look at Boston, college capital of the US, where revered universities have attracted world-class talent and provided rocket-fuel for the economy of Massachusetts. 

Indeed, Foundation Dean of the Ulster University School of Medicine Lousie Dubras gave the most impressive and most consequential presentation of the day on Friday when she outlined to our Golden Bridges audience both in Ireland Northwest and in Boston (and its Irish American environs which stretched to Alaska) the bold development plans for the new university.

Of course, I feel bad that the medicine school didn't get the green light in 2016 — we would be much further on towards the goal of full operation which then was earmarked for 2025 — but I don't feel as bad as my running mate who was involved in plans for a post-graduate school at Magee for Ulster University back in the late nineties!

Anyone who doubts the power of a university to transform a city only needs to look at Boston, college capital of the US, where revered universities have attracted world-class talent and provided rocket-fuel for the economy of Massachusetts. 

And thankfully, for Derry, the university won't stand alone. As I found out on my journey up from Belfast, we are finally building a road worthy of the name to Derry. Another sixty year sore being healed. 

There is much more of course. Even as Brexit bears down on us, Ireland Northwest has the most progressive and strongest cross-border partnership between Donegal and Derry/Strabane councils. It will ensure the region not just weathers the Brexit storm but thrives under an agreed Brexit (fingers crossed) which leaves the North economically in the EU. It may not be the best of best of both worlds but by dint of hard work, resilience and the genius and creativity which gave us Deane, Friel, the Undertones and the Derry Girls it might be as good as.

VISION: Garvan O'Doherty joined by a panel at Golden Bridges to discuss the road back for tourism and his Museum of Emigration plans
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VISION: Garvan O'Doherty joined by a panel at Golden Bridges to discuss the road back for tourism and his Museum of Emigration plans

The icing on the cake would be a world-class tourism attraction similar to Titanic Belfast, the Guggenheim in Bilbao or the V&A in Dundee. There is a plan on the table to build a European-quality art gallery in the North with split sites in Belfast and Derry and that would certainly help. But Garvan O'Doherty's proposal to hammer swords into ploughshares by placing a Museum of Emigration on the old Fort George military site gets my vote. 

Wouldn't it be fitting to announce that project next year in 2021, the 1500th birthday of St Colm Cille — who took the boat to the Isle of Iona in 563 making him the region's most famous exile. 

And by the time that same tourism and cultural game changer would be built, we might just be in a position, post-pandemic, to welcome our allies, advocates and ambassadors in the US to attend the official opening, not by Zoom, but in person. 

You can watch back on the five hours of discussions, debates, presentations and celebrations on the Golden Bridges website. You need to register to playback (722 'attendees' already have) and while it's free to sign up, I will be disappointed if you don' chip in a few dollars to our conference charity partner the Irish American Partnership in Boston.