Big jobs announcement kicks off investment summit – BBC News

Professional services firm EY will create 1,000 jobs in Northern Ireland over the next five years in areas such as cybersecurity and data analytics.

The new jobs – paid on average £33,000 a year – will be based in Belfast and a new hub in the north west.

They were supported by Invest NI and the Department for the Economy.

More than 100 international investors and businesses are in Belfast for the investment summit, which is essentially a big selling point for Northern Ireland.

Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch told the summit that Northern Ireland enjoyed a unique trading position, with a “transparent land border within the single market and the internal market of the United Kingdom “.

“When you support this country, you join a growing list of businesses and investors who also recognize these opportunities,” she said.

She added: “It is our responsibility to promote all parts of Northern Ireland, particularly the North West, not just this great city of Belfast where we are meeting today.”

“That’s something the government is trying to ensure, that we reach an equal standard in the UK but also across Northern Ireland.

“I am convinced that Northern Ireland has a fantastic future.”

The summit was hosted by the UK Department for Business and Trade and the Northern Ireland Office, in collaboration with Northern Ireland’s foreign investment agency, Invest NI.

The government said about 120 investors and companies from around the world attended.

Addressing the summit on Wednesday morning, NI secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said those who doubted the significance of the Good Friday Agreement should “just take a look around”.

“During the Troubles, an event like this would have been impossible.”

Mr Heaton-Harris said he had hoped the Northern Ireland Executive would be up and running for the summit so his ministers could discuss ideas with investors, but “unfortunately this proved not to be the case”.

Stormont’s second party, the Democratic Unionist Party, left power sharing last February in protest at post-Brexit trade deals with Northern Ireland.

“My team and I have worked intensively with the DUP and all the main political parties in Northern Ireland throughout the summer and I sincerely hope that progress will be made very, very soon,” Mr. Heaton-Harris.

This investment brings EY’s total workforce in Northern Ireland to 1,900.

EY Northern Ireland managing partner Rob Heron said there had been increased demand across all areas of the firm’s business in recent years.

EY Northern Ireland will run an Assured Skills Academy program alongside the Department for the Economy (DFE) to provide a pipeline of talent in areas such as cybersecurity and data analytics.

It will focus on people such as those looking to return to work after a career break, those looking to change careers or recent graduates looking for an alternative route into professional services.

DfE Permanent Secretary Mike Brennan said his department’s Assured Skills Academies would help fill more than 350 jobs across a range of roles and skill areas, including data and analytics, cybersecurity, management purchasing and commercial contracts and project and program management.

The Windsor Framework, like its predecessor the Northern Ireland Protocol, keeps Northern Ireland within the EU’s single market for goods.

Above all, it is a question of preventing the hardening of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

But it also means that Northern Ireland manufacturers have better access to the EU than businesses in other parts of the UK.

Northern Ireland businesses do not face new post-Brexit bureaucracy when exporting goods to the EU.

Additionally, there are no controls on Northern Ireland products sold to the rest of the UK.

This means that if a US manufacturer wanted to serve both the UK and EU markets, it could establish itself in Northern Ireland to minimize customs and regulatory red tape on exports.

The jobs announced today by EY are in services rather than manufacturing, so the Windsor framework has no impact on them.

The chief executive of Invest NI told the BBC that over the next 12 months he expects “more and more announcements as people start to understand how the framework will work in practice” .

There are currently more than 230 US companies in Northern Ireland employing more than 30,000 people, US special envoy Joe Kennedy said.

“For Northern Ireland to reach its full potential, the peace dividends must be felt more widely, they must be distributed more widely across society,” he said.

“So there’s obviously a role and responsibility there, or opportunity there, for business.”

Members of the NI Business Alliance welcomed the opportunity to showcase local talent.

A partnership between CBI NI, the Center for Competitiveness, the Institute of NI Directors and the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce, the Business Alliance said Northern Ireland was “in a unique position in as a gateway to two of the world’s largest markets.”

“Free and flexible access to the EU and UK makes it the only jurisdiction in the world from which businesses can sell into Britain and the EU without customs and regulatory barriers,” he said. he declares.

The Business Alliance said investors and businesses value certainty and it remains “optimistic about the prospect of more positive discussions around the restoration of the Northern Ireland Executive”.

Other announcements included money awarded to: