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The HR Elephant, a leading cross border HR Consultancy has announced that it has created four new jobs due to an increase in business. This brings the total number in the team to eight.
The jobs in HR Consultancy and administration will primarily be based in the Newry area but the team are working remotely in the current climate, to service clients across NI and ROI.
Aine Crilly, Managing Director, The HR Elephant said, “We have been established from since 2017 and up to this year we have grown organically through word of mouth and referrals. We are trying to bring a new style of HR consultancy to the market, covering everything from diversity and inclusion and mental health awareness through to the traditional strands of employee contracts and policies and procedures.
“This year has obviously been like no other. We have seen a real surge in demand for support as businesses of all sizes try to navigate their way through the complexities of this global pandemic.
“This has left us in the fortunate position of being able to bring new people onto our team, or our ‘Herd’ as we call ourselves. We are delighted that all the new recruits have hit the ground running as we work towards facing the next stage of Covid recovery and indeed Brexit.
“We have plans in place for further growth as we move into 2021 and spend more time extending our reach into other areas.”
EDIT 29/3/2021: New Address: Office 14, Linenhall House, WIN Business Park, Canal Quay, Newry, Co. Down, BT35 6PH
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A County Down Chocolate Maker has joined up with Fortnum & Mason one of the oldest and most luxurious department stores on the planet to help produce a 99% Emission-Free Sailboat Chocolate.
Family business Neary Nógs Stoneground Chocolate is situated between Killowen and Kilkeel and is Ireland’s first bean to bar chocolate maker. The journey of their Sailboat Chocolate might have started on the Caribbean island of Grenada but on the way it found itself on the shores of Carlingford Lough. Embarking on a mission that wouldn't have been out of place in a full length feature film Neary Nóg's got the raw chocolate blocks delivered thanks to local charity Silvery Light Sailing and a hard working rowing crew at Killowen.
Produced in the Caribbean by the world's first 'Farm to Store' craft chocolate makers, the new naturally grown and certified organic Sailboat Chocolate is 99% emission-free.
Fortnum’s set out to transport this remarkable chocolate all the way from the Caribbean to Piccadilly using as few emissions as possible.That meant transport by sailboat, electric van and even as a passenger on a horse and cart too.
The journey of their Sailboat Chocolate slates started on the Caribbean island of Grenada, where a small co-operative of organic cocoa farmers is transforming the cocoa-chocolate system one bean at a time. The Grenada Chocolate Company is an Organic Cocoa Farmers’ and Chocolate-Makers’ Cooperative with a radical new business model that resulted in the first “Tree to Bar” chocolate this century, adding all the value to the local economy in the village of Hermitage, St Patrick's. Each farmer is a shareholder in the company and is paid above the standard rate, with their factory workers being paid double the going rate for equivalent jobs.
The beans are then processed in a solar powered factory. While cocoa beans are normally shipped across the world to be made into a bar, Grenada Chocolate Company use zero emissions to craft their chocolate and beans that are fresh, rather than months or even years old.
Once 350kg of chocolate, in 25kg blocks, had been made by Grenada Chocolate Company it began its first stint on the wide-open sea on an engineless sailing boat called Tres Hombres. Manned by FairTransport, the chocolate sailed from Grenada to Den Helder in the Netherlands, but its days at sea were not over yet. Once it had reached Den Helder it began its second voyage on T/S Britta, with Silvery Light Sailing, to Carlingford Lough in Ireland.
Once arrived on our shores it began its journey to NearyNógs on the Mourne Coast, one of the oldest chocolate makers in Ireland. A passionate team of volunteers transported the chocolate to Killoween, on the Mourne Mountains shoreline, using traditional Drontheim rowing boats. From there it began a bumpy ride on horse and cart across 5.9 miles to NearyNógs
NearyNógs Stoneground Chocolate Makers craft exceptional confectionery in their solar-powered factory overlooking the Irish Sea. the Fortnum & Mason Sail Boat Chocolate was broken down into slates, tempered and packaged in recyclable, biodegradable packaging before the final leg of its adventure to Piccadilly.
It began its return journey from Neary Nógs, en route to the Fortnum & Mason Chocolate Wonderland, by horse and cart on its way to Rostrevor. It was then transported from the Mourne Mountains shoreline, once again, by volunteers in Drontheim rowing boats headed in the direction of Carlingford Lough. Here it was met by beautiful sailing boat, Klevia, whose white sails powered the chocolate by wind to Port Penrhyn, in Bangor, North Wales.
As the final leg of this sustainable journey was entirely on land, we sought our very own Fortnum & Mason electric vans to deliver our exquisite Sailboat Chocolate home to Piccadilly.
Now, you can play your part in this exciting story by visiting us in Piccadilly and trying it for yourself. Whether as a unique gift for a friend or as a treat for yourself, this is a chocolate like no other. You might call it chocolate on a mission.
Fortnum & Mason thanked everyone who helped make their project happen including Shane and Dorothy Neary from NearyNógs; Joanne Orr Carriages; FairTransport; Gerry Brennan from Silvery Light Sailin; The Carlingford Lough volunteers; Stephen Reid at Grafters Media and Chantal Coady OBE, founder member of the Academy of Chocolate, co-founder of The Chocolate Society and founder of Rococo Chocolates.
Check out a video of the journey below
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As the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council business community looks ahead to recovery post COVID-19, this year’s Enterprise Week 2020 will be delivered online and will focus on economic support and recovery across key business sectors. The programme will deliver seminars, workshops, networking opportunities and mentoring sessions online. The diverse range of events are tailored to meet the needs of local businesses ranging from sole traders to global companies.
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Chairperson, Councillor Laura Devlin said, "Many businesses have faced overwhelming challenges in recent months, across all aspects of their operations. Enterprise Week 2020 will be a fantastic opportunity for our local businesses and I would urge all businesses to look at what’s on offer. All events are online and offer very relevant, timely and responsive information to business people from all sectors and will contribute to assisting the district to re:launch and re:grow.”
Enterprise Week 2020 will look at pre-enterprise and business start-up support, focusing on the early stage of developing a business idea. Growth is a key area of support for the event which will virtually present a range of industry guest speakers and local businesses to raise their profile and discuss the current range of issues and challenges that face them. Key themes for workshops and seminars include: Social Economy Support, Growing your Business Online, Accessing New Customers, Preparing for Brexit, Economic Recovery and Resilience, Digital and Skills development sessions, as well as developing new business opportunities with Tendering and Engaging with Customers.
To make the week as accessible as possible, all events within NMD Enterprise Week 2020 will be free of charge. With topical business seminars, workshops and online networking opportunities it will offer something for all local businesses. Participants can access the events online and gain access to industry-leading insights from the comfort of their own offices or remote working spaces.
For details and booking information for all the events featured in this year’s NMD Enterprise Week 2020, please visit WWW.NMDENTERPRISEWEEK2020
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Newry Chamber of Commerce and Trade has joined the Cross-Border Workers Coalition to urge the Irish Government to make changes to personal tax liabilities for employees’ resident in the Republic of Ireland but who work in Northern Ireland.
The group – the Cross-Border Workers Coalition (CBWC) – has been set up in response to the fact that employees who live in the Republic of Ireland but work in Northern Ireland are largely prohibited from remote working and are subject to a ‘double tax’ on their income should it be determined that they have worked from home or within the Republic of Ireland.
Emma Mullen Marmion, who is a HR Consultant at Emerald HR and President of Newry Chamber of Commerce and Trade commented “Covid-19 has been referred to in the HR Industry as the largest “Working from Home” experiment – a measure of the agility of businesses and organisations to respond and adapt quickly to the growing challenges faced throughout the global pandemic. Childcare constraints, meeting the caring responsibilities of staff, managing the risk to the health of our people, travel restrictions, and restrictions to the numbers of people who could gather in office spaces were among many of the constraints forcing staff to work from home.”
With Covid-19 restrictions being tightened across the Island, and particularly in border counties, it is thought that many workers will remain working at home for some time to come. This has brought this issue firmly into light and the CBWC is calling on politicians to urgently review the situation now.
Emma added “Working with businesses as they plan for recovery, returning to “Business as Normal” and beyond, it is clear that working from home will not only be a necessity, but a requirement and request of workers across the country.”
A NI resident employee can work in the Republic of Ireland for up to 60 days without triggering a tax liability, whereas a Republic of Ireland resident employee that works outside of Republic of Ireland would lose the ability to claim Cross-Border Worker Relief for carrying out certain duties. The group says now is the time to make the necessary changes to future proof against other outbreaks and create a better work-life balance for employees.
Speaking about joining the steering group of the Cross-Border Workers Coalition,Ms Mullen Marmion said “As a Chamber, we fully support this campaign by the Cross-Border Workers Coalition in respect of remote working tax liabilities and I am looking forward to working closely with the wider steering group to bring about a pragmatic solution.
“Newry City is the closest City to a European Country, located just 10 km away from the Republic of Ireland. Given the proximity to the border, the Chamber recognises that this is an issue that face many of our members and the cross-border workers they employ.
“Newry City is recognised as a prime location to work and to do business. The ‘double tax’ burden for those who work remotely, which this campaign aims to change, recognises the difficulty that this may pose for Newry businesses to attract and retain skilled workers who live on their doorstep and puts undue financial and personal pressures on the lives of hundreds of cross-border workers.
“Greater flexibility for Republic of Ireland workers can bring substantial benefits to our local economy and anything which boosts our attractiveness for inward investment, that keeps skilled workers in our region must always be considered.”
Aidan O’Kane, from the leadership Cross Border Workers Coalition Steering Group added “We are really thrilled to have the support of Newry Chamber and are particularly looking forward to working with Emma in the coming weeks. Her background, expertise and connections in Newry and the wider region will be invaluable to the wider campaign. We really see this as another indication of the groundswell of support behind our campaign.”
“Already we have engaged with Newry and Armagh MLA and Finance Minister in Northern Ireland, Conor Murphy and welcome his commitment to push this with his counterpart in the south. There has been an acknowledgement too from the Irish Revenue Commissioners that this is an issue they are aware of and have temporarily waived this liability during the pandemic. As we face further restrictions and instructions to work from home, the need for a permanent and pragmatic solution to this issue is clear to see. Now is the opportune moment to resolve this issue once and for all.”
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First Derivatives has announced their interim financial results for the six months to 31 August.
Revenue is up 3% from £116.7M to £119.6M for the Newry based company while gross profit stayed stable at £48.2M.
Highlights of the period included a Software license growth of 12% that drove total software revenue up 4% to £74.4m (H1 2020: £71.4m). Managed services and consulting revenue was in line with the prior period at £45.2m with our strategic client relationships and market-leading services protecting our revenue base and providing a solid foundation for a return to growth. The Group revenue increased by 3%, representing a highly resilient performance during a period in which sales cycles lengthened as a result of macro uncertainty caused by COVID-19.
Donna Troy, Chairman of FD, commented: “During the period we have demonstrated the Group’s resilience while continuing to focus on the considerable opportunity ahead. It is clear that the use of data, particularly streaming operational data, to drive decision-making will become critical for enterprises and COVID-19 will accelerate this treng uncertainty throughout the world. nd. Kx technology is ideally placed to be the streaming analytics software of choice that customers and partners trust to solve their most demanding and complex data challenges, and it is our mission to capitalise on that opportunity.
"With our new leadership teams in place following a number of senior appointments we are making good progress on our strategic objectives, with enhancements to our internal structures and go-to-market capabilities as well as our technology roadmap. While the current year outcome remains difficult to predict, we are excited by the potential of our business and the capability to significantly accelerate our growth.”
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There's a lot of things Newry businesses can't control today: Brexit, a global pandemic and a double-dip recession. But if you improve your website and online presence you can give your business the best chance of success as we adapt to our 'new normal'.
One of Northern Ireland's most experienced digital marketers, Newry-born, Freelance Belfast Copywriter Paul Malone from Tall Paul Marketing, on how your business can adapt, improve your website and succeed in our 'new normal'.
Your business website is the equivalent of a shop window; prospective customers have a look and either enter your shop (buy online) or walk on to the next store (check out your competitor's websites).
There are not many guarantees in the world now, while we're in a global pandemic.
One of the founding fathers of the United States, Benjamin Franklin, once mused: "In this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes."
If he were alive today that quote might be a little different, in my opinion.
There are now an additional five things that are certain.
Firstly, the COVID-19 pandemic isn't going away any time soon.
There's a growing consensus amongst scientists globally that the Coronavirus might become a regular unwelcome guest with the same regularity as the common winter flu.
Secondly, there won't be a return to our old 'normal'.
Mask-wearing, social distancing, self-isolation and a myriad of other phrases that entered our conversations could be here for another couple of years.
Thirdly, we're about to enter a global recession (we're technically already in it).
Certainly, when global recessions arrive, marketing and advertising spend is usually one of the first to be cut.
But it's important to remember the famous quote from Henry Ford, the American businessman and founder of Ford Motors.
He warned, "A man who stops advertising to save money is like a man who stops a clock to save time."
Fourthly, in Newry, we're about to experience the unique repercussions of Brexit and sharing a land border with a European country and a sea border with the rest of the United Kingdom.
As a result, this could mean isolating Northern Ireland businesses from three key markets: the Republic of Ireland, the UK and eventually the European Union.
Moreover, with just months to go before we leave the EU, we're still no closer to knowing what the future will look like.
Will there be a no-deal Brexit?
Is an Irish Sea border arriving in 2021?
Will there be a hard border in Ireland?
How will border workers be looked after?
In the same vein, can we trust a Tory government under the leadership of Boris Johnson and his right-wing Cabinet to have our best interests at heart?
Lastly, if you thought technology was moving fast before, it's now moving at an unprecedented pace.
In other words, everything is going online.
And while those above paragraphs make for depressing reading, the last point can also be an opportunity for your small or medium business to change direction.
To clarify, today is the time to say to yourself: "My business is going to survive, adapt and succeed."
It's time to improve your website and online presence.
Here are five simple ways you can improve your website and transform your company's online presence.
Most importantly, it's a guide about how to attract more visitors to your website (potentially customers) and ultimately, generate leads (and sales!).
1. Improve your online presence today by getting rid of dormant and unnecessary Social Media accounts.
Every time a shiny new social media platform makes the headlines, we all experience #FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out).
And of course, we create a new account, add a business logo to the profile picture and get on with our day.
However, the reality is - now more than ever - people visiting these accounts only to find no recent activity might assume, given the pandemic and suffering of local businesses - that your business has closed down.
Most importantly, please resist the urge to join new social media platforms unless you know everything about them, their audience demographics (and your own audience demographics).
Not every social media platform is right for every Newry business.
For example, an aspiring singer in Newry might want an account on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Tik Tok to showcase those exquisite vocals.
However, would all of the above platforms be good choices for a Northern Ireland software start-up company?
Probably not.
They'd most likely have a significant presence on LinkedIn and perhaps Twitter instead.
That is to say; you need to know your audience and your target customers.
Think about who your target customers are.
What do they like doing? Is there a specific age group for your customers?
Make sure you're active on the social media platforms that they use.
For instance, there's no point having a Tik Tok or Snapchat account unless either you or your company sell something that's visually and audibly appealing.
In short, the take-home message is clear: don't stretch yourself too thinly on social media.
Concentrate on one, two or three platforms, and give them all of your attention.
It's such a simple tip but one that is guaranteed to improve your website and online presence.
2. Improve your website by cutting down on unnecessary content.
Your website is one of the best places to make an excellent first impression to customers.
Remember, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
And when a customer visits your website, it should have straightforward, focussed content.
In addition, your homepage should say who you are, what you do, how you do it, and why your business is incredible.
Every other page should be consistent in tone and so that Google understands it when its robots crawl the website, it should be clearly structured.
Most websites benefit from having a simple structure:
Homepage
About page
Blog/news page
Services/Products on offer
Contact page
Of course, if you've got glowing testimonials or want to showcase your work, by all means, add them in; it will definitely improve your website and online presence.
But try and cut down on unnecessary content wherever possible.
Firstly, print out every page of your website.
Secondly, get a highlighter and go through each sentence and ask yourself: "Do potential customers really care about this?"
I guarantee you, you will surprise yourself at how little of it you need to keep and the repeat of information on multiple pages. Be ruthless with your content cull.
To clarify: short, snappy, concise is the name of the game.
Take a look at my website homepage to see how short all of the content is.
To sum up: website visitors aren't going to read paragraph after paragraph on every single page of your website.
Nobody cares about your business as much as you do.
Therefore, they will scan through quickly.
Customers want to be educated, informed, engaged, entertained or to buy a product or service that benefits them.
Make sure your website and all content match those points.
3. Improve your website and online presence by investing time (or money) on your website's blog or news page - known as 'Content Marketing'.
Your blog is one of the most valuable, yet most neglected, parts of your website.
Above all, Content Marketing has transformed businesses around the world.
The Content Marketing Institute describes Content Marketing as "a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action."
Money is tight at the minute for most businesses.
Forget about quick wins like spending money on online advertising.
Resist the urge to click 'Boost Post' on Facebook.
Shun the expensive Pay Per Click world of Google Advertising (unless you've got a helluva lot of money to throw at it!).
Instead, invest your time and money in Content Marketing.
Content Marketing is one of the smartest ways to improve your website.
Create quality, engaging, informative and entertaining content consistently, and you'll get bigger, long-term rewards and reach a whole new world of customers.
It's your chance to showcase what your business does, provide informative and helpful content and instigate discussions in your industry.
In addition, it can even improve your search ranking on Google, Yahoo and Bing with savvy SEO optimised content.
There's nothing inherently wrong with Google PPC advertising or Facebook advertising - they serve a purpose and do it very well.
But for small and medium-sized businesses in Northern Ireland, every penny is a prisoner.
And you want sustainable results that drive customers consistently.
In short, decide today that you're going to commit yourself and your business.
Start small.
"I will update my blog/news page once a week."
Baby steps.
There won't be any quick wins with this, so don't expect overnight success.
It's a marathon, not a sprint.
However, if you commit to weekly blog posts, you'll gradually start to attract more visitors to your website, and those that do visit will come back for more.
While a boosted post or PPC advert might give you instant results, they come at a cost.
And once your money is spent, the visitors stop coming.
As a result, you're back to being invisible online.
That's why a commitment to Content Marketing now will guarantee you'll have visitors coming back time and again.
Also, the content you write for your blog or news page can be used as snippets for your social media content too, killing two birds with one stone.
* Shameless plug alert * If you don't have the time to write your blog content every week, why not hire a freelance copywriter like me?
I'm a Newry-born, Belfast-based freelance copywriter and I create website blog and news page content for businesses around Northern Ireland that don't have the time to do it themselves.
Find out more about Tall Paul Marketing here.
4. Check (and update) all business listings for consistency to improve your website and online presence.
Certainly, this one is a quick win.
Customers don't always find your website by typing in the business category and town.
Sometimes they find it through local and national business listings websites.
If you're not already listed in them all, I would highly recommend joining a couple of the biggest ones.
The best business listings pages, in my opinion, are:
Here's what the Tall Paul Marketing Google My Business listing looks like:
If you're on the above already, log in to each and make sure the following are consistent across all websites and accurately mirror your website and branding:
I cannot overstate the importance of consistency and accuracy of information about your business on the world wide web.
An out of service phone number, a broken website URL, missing information, or out of date branding can confuse potential customers.
To sum up: Don't lose out on driving traffic to your website with conflicting information and web presence.
If customers are not visiting your website to make a purchase, you can guarantee they're visiting your competitor instead.
To conclude, here are the four tips to improve your website and online presence:
About Paul Malone
Newry-born, living in Belfast, Freelance Copywriter Paul Malone is one of Northern Ireland's most experienced marketers.
Tall Paul provides Copywriting, Content Writing and Blog Writing services for businesses across the country.
Follow Tall Paul's blog for more business marketing tips, tricks and advice by clicking here.
Connect with Tall Paul on social media:
Tall Paul Marketing Facebook | Tall Paul Marketing Twitter
Tall Paul Marketing LinkedIn | Tall Paul Marketing Instagram
Email Paul: paul@tallpaulmarketing.com
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Newry based JMK Solicitors’ ‘call for action’ to protect children involved in road traffic collisions has successfully led to proposed legislative intervention.
Since 2016 JMK has been calling for action to ensure children’s rights are fully protected when making personal injury claims following road traffic collisions.
The latest figures from the Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU), the government body which monitors personal injury claims, suggests that from 2010, a total of 2,808 people in Northern Ireland aged below 18 years were not legally represented after being injured in a car accident*. This would appear to indicate that these young victims may not have had access to independent legal advice, may not have received compensation which they may be entitled to, nor have had their compensation money protected for them until they are old enough to manage it themselves.
Currently, when an insurance company offers to settle an injury claim with an adult who has not sought expert independent legal advice, they may also make an offer to compensate any children who were also injured. However, the insurance company is not under any mandatory legal obligation to insist that the child obtains its own legal advice.
Maurece Hutchinson, Managing Director at JMK Solicitors said, “We have been monitoring the increase in the number of children injured in road traffic collisions who are not legally represented for a number of years. The numbers have grown dramatically from 57 cases in 2010 to over 500 cases in 2019.”
Maurece added “Not only are children entitled to be legally represented in their own right, any compensation funds which are sought in their name should be independently approved by a judge and be held securely for the child’s own use in the future. In cases of compensation awarded to children for injuries sustained, children’s compensation should be transferred into the protection of the Court and put into a Special Investment Account which the injured person can access when they are older.”
“This makes good sense, but unfortunately it doesn’t always happen and money due for the child can end up being spent by parents who accept the funds on their behalf.”
“Currently, few parents are aware that by accepting compensation on behalf of their children, in the absence of a court decision, that they bear the responsibility of ensuring the money is kept safe for the child’s use when they turn 18. We are advocating that proper regulations are implemented in order to protect children’s rights.”
After JMK raised the issue, this view was endorsed by Lord Justice Gillen in his “Review of Civil and Family Justice” report in September 2017 which stated, “It is our view that serious consideration be given to introducing court legislation to make court approval of legal settlements of financial cases involving minors mandatory.”
Despite this, the practice continued, with 517 children’s cases registered in 2019 who appear not to have any legal representatives recorded.
The Shadow Civil Justice Council (sCJC) met in March 2020 to discuss this issue. The minutes from the meeting recently published, indicate that the response from the insurer’s representatives fell very short of what had appeared to have been accepted as the agreed way forward and members of the sCJC are now also advocating for legislative intervention and seeking that the Department of Justice provide an update on how they perceive that this might be taken forward.
The aim is to protect all persons under disability, regardless of claim value.
Ms Hutchinson added "JMK are leading the way in ensuring children’s cases are protected, even with the almost cessation of court business during the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe JMK Solicitors were one of the first firms in Northern Ireland to secure Court Approval in a child’s compensation case after submitting a detailed report on the case to the court. As a result of our innovative approach, the Judge was able to resolve the case without any parties having to physically attend. This ensured the child was not prejudiced by any delay and everyone was able to adhere to government guidance on social distancing."
Established in 2003, JMK Solicitors assist clients from all over Northern Ireland. To contact JMK Solicitors, please call 028 9032 0222 or visit WWW.JMKSOLICITORS.COM
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A County Down entrepreneur has launched a tech-for-good project called ‘Support Local NI’, a free to use website that will help support and sustain local businesses in Northern Ireland through the upcoming Christmas shopping period.
Support Local NI is a free, online directory of local businesses based across Northern Ireland, which allows consumers to browse, discover and support independent creators, entrepreneurs and families.
The website, which was launched at the end of October, has already been visited by thousands of consumers and has had almost 100 businesses register, with more registering every day.
Check it out at WWW.SUPPORTLOCALNI.COM
Matt Stevenson based in Holywood the Founder of Support Local NI, said: “My own family was affected by the impact of COVID-19 on local businesses, and this inspired me to use my technology and design capabilities to do something to help others across the country who might be in a similar situation.
“Local businesses are in such a tough spot at the moment, with many heading into their first Christmas period of having to deal with extremely uncertain operating conditions. I created Support Local NI as a free way for local businesses across Northern Ireland to get additional exposure to their products and services, hopefully providing many with increased stability and certainty throughout the upcoming festive period.”
Matt added: “I would encourage anyone looking to buy a gift or product for a loved one to browse the website and buy from one of the amazing businesses on display, as this will directly support independent creators, entrepreneurs and families from across Northern Ireland."
If you or someone you know has a local business and want to be listed on the site for free, then be sure to visit WWW.SUPPORTLOCALNI.COM/SUBMIT
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A Newry and Armagh MLA has expressed his concerns at the length of time taking to process urgent grants for those businesses forced to close. Justin McNulty has said that three weeks in to the current 'lockdown' no businesses have received any support.
Mr McNulty explained, "Three weeks ago the First, deputy First and Finance Ministers announced the current series of lockdowns and the financial support which followed. They recognised the importance of that support and the need for it to be delivered urgently. Those restrictions or that lockdown was for four weeks and despite being over three weeks into these latest restrictions, not a single business impacted has received a single penny.
"This is a terrible abandonment of local businesses and the economy. People are really stressed and are really adversely impacted by this decision. They need this financial support to survive and yet it is still nowhere to be seen. This week I have been inundated by local businesses across Newry and Armagh pleading for support, they are looking to know where is the support that was promised to them.’
"This Executive has a habit of promising a lot and making people either beg or wait for the support. Businesses cannot afford to hang around and wait for the Finance Minister and his team to get their act together. They need this support and they need it now."
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