Jobs Boost Minister's 'Steady Hand' On Finance

Good news of the creation of dozens of hi-tech jobs for east Belfast has proved to be well timed.

The 40 posts to be created at the Thales arms company in east Belfast, along with another 15 jobs at an online gaming company at a base in Co Down, has lent weight to the NI Finance Minister's claims to be able to 'steer NI through recession'.

Missile company, Thales Air Defence plans to create the jobs following the awarding of a £200 million Ministry of Defence (MoD) contract in deal in January.

The French-owned company, which was formerly Shorts Missile Systems owned by Bombardier, won the contract to supply part of the Starstreak missile system to the British military.

On foot of the good news, Stormont Finance Minister Nigel Dodds has vowed he can steer Ulster through the economic storm still sweeping the globe.

"We're in a recession, but the key thing is that I'm focused on delivering - making sure every pound of taxpayers' money spent is good value for money."

He has £8.5bn from Westminster and says that, while he'd always like more, he is confident he can hit targets while giving a boost to the local economy.

As well as toasting the Thales jobs, growth in online gaming is being credited with creating the 15 new technical and software jobs in Newry.

Jolt Online Gaming has set up a centre here to run the company's computer systems and provide technical support to customers all over the world.

However, it is not all good news as a Co Londonderry concrete company has made 18 workers redundant because of the slump in the building trade.

Tobermore Concrete, which supplies paving and other concrete items to the building industry is blaming the construction downturn for the drop in demand for its products.

The redundancies will cut the company's workforce to just over 200.

(BMcC/JM)