Newry Chamber Board Members and Corporate Patrons held a meeting with Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP to discuss the local economy at a special lunchtime event which took place at the Lord Ballyedmond Centre at Norbrook Laboratories in Newry on Thursday 6th July.
Edwina Flynn, Vice President of Newry Chamber commented:
“As the leading voice for business in the Greater Newry Area, we continue to lobby for our members with a range of stakeholders and in particular political leaders. We were grateful that Sir Jeffrey took the time to come to Newry to share his thoughts on future economic prospects and listen to our members’ views. Sir Jeffrey spoke about his close connection to this region having been born in Kilkeel.”
“We highlighted the many companies across the Greater Newry Area that are growing and continuing to invest. These include firms with global reach, family businesses and a new set of entrepreneurs who are all working together to create a dynamic business environment.”
“Newry is most certainly entering a decade of opportunity with significant public sector investment, most notably Newry City Centre Regeneration projects supported by the Belfast Region City Deal, including the Southern Relief Road, Civic Centre, Theatre & Conference Centre and Albert Basin Park.”
“We also discussed the key challenges that businesses are facing around skills shortages, that are severely impacting on growth. We discussed the need for better co-ordination in the education sector between providers and a focus on vocational skills, whilst looking at more innovative ways to attract new foreign workers to the region.”
“We raised the need for investment in our infrastructure, especially health care and in particular acute services at Daisy Hill Hospital as well as sewage, housing and transport.”
“We offered our support and encouragement for a return to Stormont and much needed political stability. We were very much encouraged by Sir Jeffrey’s hopes that a resolution to the issues around the Windsor Framework can be progressed quickly.”
Edwina concluded: “There is a lot of goodwill from across the world towards Northern Ireland as we celebrate 25 years since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. We need to grasp this opportunity and demonstrate to investors and funders why we are great place to invest. Newry Chamber will continue to work with our members and stakeholders to play our part.”