Tyrone Crystal woes mean Economic Forum must be established immediately

8.02.00pm GMT Thu 16th Feb 2006

Young Alliance Chairman Ian James Parsley has demanded the immediate implementation of Alliance plans to establish an all-party Economic Forum, as yet another set of manufacturing job losses were announced by Tyrone Crystal.

Cllr Parsley stated: "Now that a firm as well known as Tyrone Crystal is announcing job losses, the time has come for the Government and those seeking ministerial office in any new NI Executive to get real about the private sector.

"This week alone we have seen a BBC report on _Hearts and Minds_ illustrate clearly the sheer unreality of economic policy in Northern Ireland. Entrepreneurs either start their businesses while in their teens, or mid-career having gained experience in the industry, often with an international firm. So encouraging entrepreneurship is not about advertising campaigns suggesting graduates set up in business straight after their degree. We need less ratepayers' money being wasted on unaccountable public bodies and more time and resources spent on developing investment and a full range of training options to maximize our people's potential to create wealth.

"We must get rid of a culture that is scared of profit. Companies like Tyrone Crystal have to make a profit in order to grow and recruit more staff. The penalty when companies like that go into decline is paid by shop-floor workers, not high-flying executives.

"Businesses do not want hand-outs, they want an end to hurdles being put in the way by officialdom. Endless public-sector working groups in ivory towers have achieved precisely nothing - our productivity lags as far behind the rest of the UK and even further behind the Irish Republic than it did a decade ago.

"Therefore, those of us who have direct experience of the reality of running a business must act immediately and decisively to end our public-sector dependence and develop a private sector that is able to function fully. This needs businesspeople and politicians to come together to develop a fair deal for local business, and this can only meaningfully be done if politicians from the Assembly parties get round the table with business to develop a clear plan that Government must act upon."

ENDS

Cllr Parsley himself runs a communications company and is an official spokesperson for the Federation of Small Businesses, as well as a member of the Chartered Management Institute. He sits on the board of new North newNorth Down Economic Development Forum, and is a director of the North Down Development Organisation Ltd.

DETI figures indicate that economic productivity per head in Northern Ireland is 77.8% of the UK average (compared to 81% in 1995), and that the subvention to Northern Ireland (i.e. the amount of public spending on the people minus the amount raised in tax by the people) has doubled to over £5 billion.