IoD chairman calls for greater emphasis on economy

The new Chairman of the Institute of Directors (IoD) in Northern Ireland, Denis Rooney, has called for a greater emphasis on economic development as the "paymaster" for social improvement in the province.

Speaking after his election at the annual meeting of the IoD Northern Ireland Division, Mr Rooney said that the institute has a strong entrepreneurial base, and would use its position of independence to both support and challenge Northern Ireland's "comparatively young political establishment".

He said: "I believe our politicians need to be challenged on the economy. The first and most urgent need is for the new political process to bed down – and quickly. Time is not on our side and our political representatives must face up to the real challenge to function efficiently and expertly as a government and to drive forward the economy."

Mr Rooney stated that the province's business sector was derived from "too narrow" a base: "We need to quickly to widen the catchment area for entrepreneurs and start to develop more business leaders from socially deprived areas, younger age groups and from women. This is imperative if we are to compete in a tough global market. Links between business and education are a vital tool in this transition and IoD, an organisation of business leaders, can have a pivotal role to play by example and leadership."

Pledging support to the new economic development agency, Invest NI, Mr Rooney also underlined the growing importance of the Economic Development Forum, and added: "DETI has played a key administrative role and I believe the Forum's Medium Term Strategic Priorities – soon to be published – constitute an innovative and highly effective way of analysing and directing our future economic performance."

(CL)