January 2002

Job Losses in East Antrim

Mr Beggs:I thank the Business Committee for allowing me to bring this matter to the Floor of the Assembly. It is important to highlight the recent decline in employment in east Antrim to other Assembly Members and to the various Government Departments.

There is a clear need for Government Departments to assess how the job prospects and lifelong learning opportunities of the people of east Antrim can be improved.

Many people's perceptions of east Antrim are inaccurate and have more in common with the situation in the 1960s, rather than with the reality of the twenty-first century. GEC, ICI and Courtaulds have gone. The voids left by those multinational companies have been filled by FG Wilson (Engineering) Ltd and by small business complexes which have developed on the former sites of ICI at Kilroot and of Courtaulds at Carrickfergus. During the past decade, in common with the rest of Northern Ireland, unemployment declined with the emergence of new industry and service sector jobs in east Antrim. In 1996, unemployment in Larne was at 10%, slightly above the Northern Ireland average of 9·5%.

In recent years the economic outlook for East Antrim has been primarily related to the fortunes of Nortel Networks. In 1999-2000 over £125 million was earmarked for investment in Nortel's Monkstown plant. In 2000 Nortel won the Northern Ireland Exporter of the Year award, and its workforce almost doubled. A range of suppliers flourished in east Antrim at that time - Insilco, Solectron and C-Mac.

New jobs were created, but with the crash of the global telecommunications market those were either lost or were at risk. Since January 2001 there have been 1,000 redundancies at Nortel, and 200 staff have been given early retirement. There have been 350 redundancies at Solectron, 200 at C-Mac and 120 at Insilco. Other job losses in the electronics industry were related to the decline in the world economy. Two hundred jobs were lost at Daewoo Electronics in Carrickfergus, and 65 at AVX in Larne. With the announcement of other redundancies, the total jobs lost in the last year affected approximately 2,000 people.

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment has reported that 44% of all redundancies in Northern Ireland between April and November 2001 were in east Antrim. That statistic is startling. The scale of job losses is the same as that caused by the closure of the man-made fibres industry in the early 1980s. The trade union Amicus-AEEU indicated that a 2:5 ratio multiplier effect comes into being when manufacturing jobs are lost, because the additional loss of service sector jobs increases the total.
The unemployment statistics for December 2001 show that unemployment in the Carrickfergus Borough Council area is at 6·6%. That is the fifth highest of any council area in Northern Ireland. Larne borough, at 5·9%, is the sixth highest, with the Northern Ireland average at 4·6%. That is the position at the moment, and recently announced redundancies have yet to appear in official unemployment statistics.

Eleven district councils in Northern Ireland are earmarked for special TSN support from LEDU and IDB. I want to know why those eleven councils qualify, while the councils with the fifth and sixth highest unemployment rates - Larne and Carrickfergus - do not. I welcome the fact that the criteria for designating TSN are under review, but I would like the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, and the Executive, to bear in mind that dramatic changes have occurred in east Antrim, even since the recent completion of the Noble indices.
The IDB's most recent report shows low numbers of overseas visits to east Antrim. In 2000-01, there were no visits to Larne, and only three to Carrickfergus. How can we address the decline? How do we make progress? How can we contribute to improving the lot of the people of east Antrim?

There is a need to promote sustainable employment, and to switch the focus to indigenous business start-ups and company development, which is the role of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment and Invest Northern Ireland.

Education also plays a role in improving people's opportunities. I place a high level of importance on the need for education, to enable an individual to improve his or her skills. The availability of training and further education is key to improving the employment potential of individuals, the economic performances of employers and the economy as a whole: hence the wording of the motion.

The East Antrim Institute of Further and Higher Education, for which I have the highest regard, is not located in east Antrim; it is located in north Belfast. East Antrim is one of the few constituencies in Northern Ireland that does not have a permanent, central further education college. As a member of the Committee for Employment and Learning, I have repeatedly raised the issue of further education provision in my constituency, as the former Minister will testify.

There is underprovision. Larne Technical College closed in 1999. It has since been demolished, and the site is derelict. Larne's current further education provision is situated in a temporary, out-of-town location. There is a real need to re-establish further education facilities in Larne town centre to give a focal point to continuing lifelong learning. I hope that the Minister will soon be in a position to announce good news on that front. I am pleased that she has agreed to meet me next week to discuss this and other related issues. The meeting was arranged prior to the selection of this motion for debate.
There are several areas in which there have been educational gaps in east Antrim, particularly under Peace I funding. Proteus (NI) Ltd spent a total budget, largely in the field of educational support, of £22·25 million, none of which was spent in the Carrickfergus Borough Council area. The educational guidance service for adults (EGSA), with a budget of about £4·3 million, spent only £26,000 in the East Antrim constituency, on one pilot project.
I welcome the fact that Proteus (NI) Ltd and EGSA recently attended a community-funding event in east Antrim. Applications will rise as a result of that. However, as east Antrim has a relatively weak community infrastructure, there may be a need for proactive departmental support in that area.

The Oakfield Community Centre in Carrickfergus is a potential outreach area for the East Antrim Institute of Further and Higher Education. It has been successful to date, but demand is dropping because its equipment is obsolete. I seek proactive support from the Department for Employment and Learning to improve the educational facilities in that deprived area of my constituency.
Many villages, never mind towns, in Northern Ireland were provided with community educational IT suites through Peace I. However, to the best of my knowledge, the town of Carrickfergus, which does not have a further education college, was not. The officials responsible for the allocation of Peace II money recently advised me that it is unlikely that funding will be available within their gift. Again, will the Minister say whether there are departmental or other funds to provide Carrickfergus with a community education facility so that lifelong learning programmes can be provided?

I expected learndirect, the Internet-based learning facility, to play a key role in filling the further-education voids in east Antrim. Until recently, Larne and Carrickfergus were two of only four district council areas in Northern Ireland that did not have a learndirect centre to provide community access. I welcome the recent announcement of a learndirect centre in Carrickfergus, which is to be operated by Oriel Training. However, I regret the fact that no learndirect application of the required quality has yet been approved for Larne. I suggest to the Minister that a new further education campus in Larne would be an ideal location for a learndirect centre. The community that I represent is becoming frustrated by the delays and the lack of equality in the provision of lifelong learning facilities.
I support the development of small business units. There has been a successful development at the Larne Enterprise Development Company (LEDCOM) and at Carrickfergus Enterprise Agency Ltd (CEAL), in Carrickfergus, where business start-ups have been encouraged - all the units there are filled. In my constituency there is an opportunity to further develop indigenous employment that would continue to exist despite changes in the world economy. I ask the Department for Employment and Learning and other Departments to support such developments.
The people of east Antrim need equal education opportunities as regards the provision of further education and training. A level playing field is required to provide incentives for businesses across the board in Northern Ireland. The fortunes of the global economy are not in the hands of the Assembly, but let us ensure that equal opportunities for training, education and employment are provided for everyone in Northern Ireland, including east Antrim.

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