Ms Pamela Arthurs:

I wish to return to the matter of business along the Border. Members may be familiar with Flurrybridge Enterprise Centre. It is across the road from the Carrickdale Hotel. Some years ago, people working in the Newry co-operative identified that site and said they wanted to build a business park there. At the time most people asked who in their right mind would build a business park there but it currently employs 300 people. It has taken small businesses - only small businesses - from barns and so on in the area - some of them may not have been as legal as they should have been - and brought them out there. Again, it was the EU which funded it, based on the local people identifying a need there. None of the units in the centre is empty. If one is leaving the business park and turns left, one is in Ireland and if one turns right, one is in Northern Ireland. Many groups have visited. One group of MPs from Westminster asked a businessman who is based there for many years why he would not just move across the Border or go to Dundalk. He told them that it suited him to be there and asked why he would do that. He said that he has leased property in Dundalk, which was costing him a lot of money, although he hoped he would never have to move to it, but that many others in the centre did not have the finances to start leasing in the South. That is the reality. I think many businesses would say that the worst thing is the uncertainty. When one knows what one is dealing with, one can start to deal with it but instead there is ongoing uncertainty which is costing people money. It was pointed out earlier in the week that businesses are not expanding because they do not know what will happen. They want some answers but they are not forthcoming.