CBI Northern Ireland warns of energy cost job threats
Manufacturing jobs are being threatened by high energy costs, according to CBI Northern Ireland chair Colin Walsh (pictured).
Walsh said it was important for the Northern Ireland Executive to set aside recent political difficulties to focus on tackling key challenges including energy.
There had, he claimed, been a succession of reviews and inquiries: "But none of this appears to be addressing the cost to end users in manufacturing and we are in real danger of losing some of these crucial manufacturing jobs. The Executive must get this sorted."
He said that, bar one other country, the UK had the highest industrial energy costs in Europe and poor availability of supply in many parts of the province: "Clearly, this undermines the competitiveness of many of the major industries we have, and makes it virtually impossible to attract projects like data centres as inward investments."
