The Assembly must invest in education and skills

Workers Party representative in Upper Bann, Damien Harte, has criticised the short sightedness of the Assembly’s  economic strategy saying that it is more likely to lose jobs than it is to either create or attract them.

Damien was speaking following the announcement by Craigavon pharmaceutical company Almac that it was unlikely to be able to recruit up to 300 new staff locally because there were simply not enough people with the relevant qualifications.

“The Assembly is bending over backwards to reduce corporation tax for big businesses and is prepared to pay for that by slashing university places and the skills and training budget“, he said.

“Northern Ireland needs a highly skilled and qualified workforce but the Assembly would rather give tax breaks to the rich than invest in  young peoples’ futures and secure well paid employment. This is short sightedness in the extreme” Damien said.

“The Workers Party has said consistently that only a programme of public investment will turn the economy around and provide the jobs that will sustain and develop it, That investment must start with securing the education, training and skills to allow young people to apply for the jobs such as those being planned by Almac”, Damien concluded