HC Deb 18 December 1980 vol 996 c237W
Mr. Peter Robinson

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what effort has been made to attract industrial development to Northern Ireland from the United States of America in the past four years; and what the result of such efforts has been.

Mr. Giles Shaw

The Department of Commerce has since 1977 been represented by two full-time officials of the Northern Ireland Industrial Development Office in New York. Since June 1978 six further DOC officials have been seconded to Her Majesty's posts in New York, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles and San Francisco, to advise United States corporations interested in investing in the United Kingdom. This effort has been supported by 10 visits by NIO Ministers to various regions of the United States of America in the past four years. Over the same period 13 new investments from the United States have been secured for Northern Ireland, with a job potential of 7,400.