Long welcomes potential £180m investment in C Series

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 13th May 2005

Following this morning's announcement of the government's intent to invest £180 million in Shorts if work on the C Series can be secured. East Belfast Alliance Assembly Member Naomi Long has hailed the news as one of the most significant moves yet in the race to secure work on the C series aircraft for Northern Ireland.

Speaking after the announcement, Naomi Long said:

"The letter of intent from the UK government is hugely significant and could be key in attracting work on the new C series to Belfast. This has the potential to safeguard 1700 jobs for the next 15 - 20 years and Shorts and Invest Northern Ireland are to be congratulated for negotiating this outcome.

"Not only could this potentially benefit people working in Shorts but also those working in support services and affiliated industries and it is not just a huge economic boost to East Belfast but potentially also for the entire region.

"Over the last number of years we have had a series of bad news stories in manufacturing and heavy engineering hopefully today it is the opening headline on a good news story."

ENDS