Speaking after it was announced that 560 jobs are to go at Shorts Aerospace in Belfast, Alliance Assembly member for East Belfast, Councillor Naomi Long, stated:
“This is a massive blow to East Belfast, coming on top of the thousands of other manufacturing jobs that have been lost in manufacturing. Through no fault of their own, this will be a bitter pill for those affected to swallow.
“We now need to intensify efforts to attract fresh investment into this part of the city, which is reeling from a series of economic blows delivered over the past couple of years.
“Action is needed now to get support mechanisms in place to help the employees and their families come to terms with what is a very traumatic and uncertain future for them, to facilitate retraining and, most importantly, to ensure that there are job opportunities available to them in East Belfast.”