Mr. Martin McGuinness:

I think it is fair to say we have not been affected by a fire sale but, at the same time, in the course of my initial contribution I made it clear that I corresponded with Arlene Foster, who was then serving as Finance Minister, last year and I raised concerns from quite a number of people as to how Cerberus was dealing with some companies. The term "roughshod" was used to characterise Cerberus's treatment of some of those companies. The straight answer to the question is that our economic prospects have not collapsed. We have, very luckily over the course of the past two years, been steadily reducing the rate of unemployment, which stands today at something like 5.6%. As a result of the management of the Executive, assisted by foreign direct investment and also support for our own indigenous businesses, we have managed to come through what has been a very difficult economic period. I say that against the backdrop of the health warning that we are dealing with a very right-wing Tory administration in London, which has now imposed further pressure on us as a result of Brexit.