The latest news from CBI Northern Ireland
Energy issues
Businesses are extremely concerned about rising energy costs, and the continuing price differential in electricity costs with GB and other international markets. After extensive member consultation we have developed an energy discussion paper – Developing more competitive energy prices (pdf 136kb). This highlights the Northern Ireland-specific energy issues and has been submitted to the Utility Regulator, the DETI and the Assembly’s Enterprise, Trade and Investment Committee.
Annual Lunch
Our Annual Lunch takes place on Wednesday 24 September. It is generously sponsored by the Bank of Ireland, and will be held in Belfast's Culloden Hotel at 12:00 noon. To provisionally reserve places please contact Sarah Smart. Early booking is advisable.
Implications of extending holiday entitlement
The CBI is closely involved with initial consultations by the Department for Employment and Learning on extending holiday entitlement to 30 days. While we succeeded last year in keeping Northern Ireland in line with the rest of the UK the Northern Ireland Executive did commit to further consultation on the extra two days as originally promised by the previous Secretary of State. It is important that we build our evidence base on the negative impact of moving to 30 days (which we estimate will cost NI employers around £40m a year). If your holiday entitlement (holidays plus bank holidays) is less than 30 days please contact Deirdre Stewart as soon as possible.
Varney review
On 30 April Sir David Varney published his second report Review of Competitiveness of Northern Ireland. The report encourages the Executive to press ahead with some urgency on key decisions and actions to support the development of the economy – particularly in skills, innovation and infrastructure – and highlights the importance of delivering on the public sector reform agenda. It is disappointing that it has ruled out any fiscal incentives, largely on the grounds that these would be against the Treasury’s key principles of simplicity, consistency and certainty. The CBI has prepared a submission on behalf of the Business Alliance for the Assembly’s Finance Committee which is available to members on request.
The Varney review can be accessed at http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/7/F/varney_review300408.pdf
Freight transport 2020 study published
In association with InterTradeIreland the IBEC/CBI Joint Business Council jointly commissioned the Freight transport report for the island of Ireland (PDF 2.09mb).
The study for the Island of Ireland makes 21 recommendations which would benefit trade and business on both sides of the border. These include
- Improving the forecasting of future capacity requirements
- Improving access to ports
- Addressing urban congestion and making progress on improving key road corridors
- Making use of European funded programmes such as INTERREG, TENS (Trans European Networks), Marco Polo and Motorways of the Sea.
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Events
Work in progress
Mandate for prosperity (PDF 162kb)
Achievements (PDF 2.15mb)
CBI NI policy priorities 2008 (PDF 103kb)
Policy briefs
Official responses
Chairman's message
NI Council members (PDF 34kb)
IBEC/CBI Joint Business Council
Contact and travel information
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Northern Ireland economy
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