Phil Flanagan
INVEST NI has come under heavy criticism from a local MLA who says that they are not doing enough to create jobs here.
A total of 4, 760 jobs were promoted across the North by Invest NI, excluding start-ups.
In Fermanagh, just one job has been promoted by Invest NI in foreign companies in Fermanagh in the 2013/14 calendar year, while 83 were promoted by Invest NI in locally owned businesses, excluding start-ups.
The figures were revealed following a question by Sinn Fein MLA Phil Flanagan.
The MLA was heavily critical of Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Investment Arlene Foster, calling on a focussed job strategy for rural areas.
“These figures paint a picture of a jobs crisis that is ever growing across rural Ireland. The availability of jobs in rural areas and along the border corridor is extremely low and a genuine cause for concern. Despite only having 15.5% of the north’s population, Belfast attracted almost 75% of the 4,760 externally-owned jobs promoted in 2013/2014,” he said.
“I am calling on the Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Investment Arlene Foster to work with her Executive colleagues and with the Dublin government to produce a focused job creation strategy with particular emphasis on targeting rural areas and the economic development of the border corridor, which is badly needed in neglected and places like Fermanagh that have been discriminated against for too long.
“Without such action, rural areas will continue to be devastated and we will continue to see the urbanisation of Ireland, a policy which the people of this country have resisted for centuries.”
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