PRESS STATEMENT – PRESS STATEMENT – PRESS STATEMENT

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SDLP MLA BURNS: RANDOX LABS LET DOWN BY INVEST NI
 

SDLP South Antrim MLA Thomas Burns has expressed his disappointment that Crumlin company Randox Laboratories has decided to create a new diagnostics and research company in Donegeal rather than in Antrim. The new facility will employ 135 people.

He also said he agreed wholeheartedly with the statements of Randox director Dr Peter Fitzgerald who claimed Invest NI “created barriers to conducting business” in Northern Ireland and he “fully understood Randox Laboratories frustrations with Invest NI”.

Mr Burns commented: “I had spoken with Dr Fitzgerald several times prior to this announcement and sadly it comes as no surprise. I got the impression that Randox were being made to ‘jump through hoops’ by Invest NI. I also got the impression that behind the scenes the southern trade authorities did a good job courting Randox, whereas our own Minister Nigel Dodds seemed to give them the cold shoulder.”

He said: “There is no doubt that the Department for Enterprise, Trade and Investment took their eye off the ball on this one. They were too busy flirting with potential foreign investors to realize there was business to be taken care of at home.

“If Minister Dodds and Invest NI are going to be as bureaucratic and problematic with US investors as they were with Randox, they will have big problems getting American companies to invest here. The process in the south appears to be much more streamlined, and we know the tax breaks are much more attractive. It seems that even our own local companies are now looking to the south when searching for a good environment in which to do business.

“Randox and Dr Fitzgerald are a shining example to other local entrepreneurs. They are the quintessential cottage industry grown into an award winning international company. Invest NI should have been bending over backwards to help them.”

ENDS