No Invest NI cashto market Kelvin

The Sentinel recently revealed that just two foreign direct investment companies lured to Northern Ireland by the transatlantic telecommunication cable decided to locate in Londonderry between Project Kelvin becoming operational in 2010 and March 2012.

Londonderry Sinn Féin MLA Maeve McLaughlin asked the Minister what role Invest NI had played in promoting the infrastructure and how much it had spent marketing both Project Kelvin and the unrelated University of Ulster at Magee.

She replied that Invest NI does not make any financial contribution to the marketing of Project Kelvin or University of Ulster. “Hibernia Atlantic, who won the DETI contract to deliver the project, is responsible for the marketing of Project Kelvin,” she said.

“Similarly the University of Ulster is responsible for marketing the university and each campus.”

Last month the Sentinel revealed that 86 per cent of the 14 companies that decided to come here after Project Kelvin went live located in areas in Greater Belfast.

The paper also revealed that just 14 per cent (two companies) located in Londonderry.

This was in spite of Londonderry being the location of the Project Kelvin telecommunication house.

Back in 2009 there had been a campaign supported by local politicians and media in Londonderry to locate the telecommunication house here rather than in Coleraine on the basis that it was vital in order to boost employment and attract businesses to the city.

But just two firms located here because of the Project in its first two years of operation. The telecommunication house has thus not yet proved a panacea to all the city’s economic ills.

Mrs Foster said that Invest NI does advise potential investors of the infrastructure, however. She explained: “Invest NI, in its role of promoting Northern Ireland as a high-quality business location, promotes the key benefits of the region’s digital infrastructure, and the skills availability and research expertise of both universities.”

“In doing so, Invest NI presents the benefits of the Kelvin direct transatlantic link and the University of Ulster including the Magee campus, in both promotional materials and directly to potential inward investors.”