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11.33 am
Mr. Eddie McGrady (South Down): Like the right hon. Member for Strangford (Mr. Taylor), I wish to express my appreciation of the chairmanship of Sir James Kilfedder, the former Member of Parliament for North Down. He was a magnificent Chairman and a kind friend. I wish also to congratulate the present Chairman, the hon. Member for Hammersmith (Mr. Soley), who introduced the debate this morning, on continuing the even-handed and productive way of conducting the debate.
The report touches on a wide variety of aspects of employment creation in Northern Ireland. It would not be possible in a few moments even to consider one facet of it in any depth. Employment creation is a multi-faceted problem, and even the in-depth discussions that theSelect Committee has had only touched on some of thefactors that contribute to employment creation and unemployment.
During the inquiry into employment creation in Northern Ireland, we had the outbreak of peace. That created a new dimension and a new era for the prospect of employment creation--one that of course we all welcome very much. It will make the job of the employment-creating agencies that much easier to pursue.
The outbreak of peace also had a further dimension,in that it enormously increased the expectation of people for a better way of life in Northern Ireland. The absence of violence has achieved that already, but other aspects of a better way of life include the social ones of a house and a reasonable job. The housing problem in Northern
Ireland is reasonably under control at the moment, but unemployment is not. Unemployment is still the greatest scourge that we have suffered in my memory.
When I talk about employment, I mean employment with good conditions. I do not mean employment in a low-wage economy, in which the unemployed, because of their availability, are at the mercy of the would-be employer, whether indigenous or an inward investor. We should sell Northern Ireland not as a low-wage economy, but as an economy that has a very highly educated and skilful work force. We should sell it as an area where the highest quality of training can be provided in the shortest possible time, and where efficiency and quality make up for deficiencies in foreign products. We should not concentrate on being a low-wage economy, but be able to compete on the international stage in efficiency and quality.
Much has been said in the past few years in Northern Ireland about fair employment, and legislation is currently in place and being reviewed to see whether it has the intended effect. There is a problem not only with the allocation of jobs, but with the location of jobs. That was mentioned by the right hon. Member for Strangford. He listed, quite rightly, some of the horrendous losses that have occurred in the recent past, including some in my constituency. I could not help but think as he spoke that, in my constituency, we could not have big losses because we did not have the jobs in the first place.
An article in the local newspaper, the Down Recorder, last week gave the statistic that in the past decade, between 1985 and 1995, the number of unemployed increased by 40 per cent. When my constituents read the headlines about the peace dividend and a job bonanza, they wonder where those jobs will go. We are fairly certain that none of them has gone to south-east Ulster between Strangford Lough and Carlingford Lough. In that 10-year period, not one single inward investment job was created in that area. I could repeat the same sad story about infrastructure, which has also been totally neglected in that area. No inward investment jobs have been created in the area and there has been no job bonanza. That is not my interpretation of what I see around me, but the statistical results in parliamentary questions that prove beyond doubt what I am saying.
One can adopt one of two attitudes to the problem.The first is to say that it is an accident of history; the other is that it is the result of deliberate policy. One of our local newspapers this morning carried an article about how the inward investor Sanchez (UK) Ltd. has been treated. It was to come into the area of Warrenpoint, where there is considerable unemployment. I do not know whether the problem was intentional or simply due to inefficiency.
Down district, which I represent, has the second highest unemployment among the nine council areas surrounding Belfast. We have severe infrastructure problems, too. In South Down, the ferry that plies between Portaferry and Strangford is a disgrace; it will not sustain economic trade between the two areas. It was out of action for several days last week and it continually breaks down.
I do not mean to be a dog in the manger, but we need a new approach to job creation and to the areas in which effort is concentrated.
One of the great disadvantages from which areas such as south-east Ulster suffer is that they are always included in Government statistics in the Greater Belfast
travel-to-work area. In fact, unemployment statistics vary from 6.8 per cent. in Strangford--the lowest in Northern Ireland--to 22 per cent. in other areas. So the inclusion of high unemployment areas in the Belfast travel-to-work area statistics completely distorts the unemployment figures. It also means that areas of multiple social deprivation are not highlighted; they are merely camouflaged in the overall picture.
I ask the Department to provide proper statistics, broken down into the natural units made up of the communities of Northern Ireland. I would also suggest a greater element of partnership between the Government, the job-creating bodies and the vibrant local industrial development bodies working with the local councils. That would be an invaluable and fruitful process.
Mr. Thomas McAvoy (Glasgow, Rutherglen):
My hon. Friend consistently gives the impression that the job-creating agencies run by the Northern Ireland Office seem to neglect the peripheral areas outside the Belfast conurbation. Has he detected any improvement in their attitude recently?
Mr. McGrady:
Since the Committee's report to the Government and to the House, I have detected no change whatever. Of course I can speak only for my own area, but I believe that other areas are in the same situation. We seem to be recreating the Pale of the 16th and17th centuries--this time not around Dublin, but around Belfast. Into this new economic Pale all good things go and nothing emerges for the peripheral areas.
I also suggest that indigenous and inward investment incentives be graded and geared to provide more jobs near the areas of greatest deprivation. After all, that can be done in Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland, so why cannot it be done effectively in Northern Ireland? We also need a redefinition of the so-called priority areas, to ensure that the real unemployment blackspots are more effectively helped by making them more attractive to investors. There is nothing to be ashamed of in providing jobs for those areas.
The not-so-new policy of the Industrial Development Board and LEDU--the Local Enterprise Development Unit--of concentrating on developing companies with an exporting orientation is fine as far as it goes, but it does not help if a constituency has nothing to develop in the first place. It is impossible to develop the export sector, or the research and development sector, of industries in places where there are no industries. I therefore say that the IDB and LEDU must act more assiduously to create the economic conditions that will attract grant aid and make those places more attractive generally.
I am talking about a change of tactics, a change of the grant aid structure and a change of the policy guiding industrial development--especially inward development.
The right hon. Member for Strangford referred to trade with the Republic which, as he stated, is running at only 5 per cent. of our total trade. The right hon. Gentleman seemed to take some delight in that fact. I take no delight in it; it is a scandal that the two parts of Ireland are not trading much more to their mutual benefit.
I cannot close without first mentioning the 25 per cent. budget cut for the Training and Employment Agency, announced on 11 December last. The effects of that cut
have percolated dramatically down into the action for community employment programme. I doubt whether the Government fully thought through the extent to which the effects would be felt, but the results of the cut for meals on wheels, care in the community, Barnardo's homes,Age Concern and cancer research will be considerable. It is sad that those most vulnerable sectors of voluntary work have been targeted, and that 3,000 jobs are due to be cancelled by a stroke of the pen that came out of the blue on 11 December last.
The irony is that other Government Departments will have to pick up the tab. The services will still have to be provided, if not by the voluntary sector and the ACE programme, then more directly.
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