Farry says further clarity is needed after Bombardier announcement

Dr Farry was speaking after the company said it would be making 7,500 redundancies worldwide. It is not yet clear how many jobs in Northern Ireland will be affected, with Bombardier stating it would be “evaluating the impact on Belfast operations”.

“This is deeply concerning news,” said Dr Farry.

“Bombardier is already in the process of making over 1,000 redundancies in Northern Ireland, so any further added to that would be another brutal blow. My thoughts are with the workers who may be affected by any redundancies and their families.

“The local manufacturing sector remains strong but has been weathering a number of blows over the past year. There are other opportunities for staff affected by redundancy, especially if Government assists with signposting and retraining. This announcement may not be directly linked to Brexit but we need to be conscious it and uncertainty over access to markets makes it very difficult to further develop manufacturing at present.

“Bombardier is a large and versatile company with a proud history in Northern Ireland. I hope they can withstand this blow without further job losses here.”