But again the question has to be asked, how much did Teleperformance obtain from Invest NI when they first located in Northern Ireland and how much have they received to assist with their expansion. Initial reports stated that Invest Northern Ireland was to provide £3m to assist with this expansion, but we can report that prior to the current package which will provide Teleperformance with £3,050,000 - a staggering £5000 per head, that they received a total of  £6.238,404 with another £1,626,500 in Training & Development assistance (this latter figure is awaiting confirmation). 

You decide, at a time when financial assistance has been completely withdrawn for new start-up business in Northern Ireland whether it is acceptable that Invest NI are able to offer such vast assistance to foreign companies offering what many consider to be low grade services, such as call centre work and which is often at the low end of the pay scales.

Full Editorial

Following the restoration of the Northern Ireland Assembly the people of Northern Ireland where promised vast investment, in fact it was one of the main reasons Ian Paisley was not steeping down until May. After the trade fair in the US, £100 million of investment was promised and to-date, not one penny has been spent here.

This year we have witnessed yet again our politicians go abroad seeking investment and unless the funding they have obtained in hidden in the deepest corner of some press release, they came back with nothing more than a promise of approximately £20 million. Ironically, Invest NI gave a similar amount to a single company not long before the trade mission set off and viewed within this context, whilst welcomed, is insignificant in the bigger picture.

Thus far devolution has not benefited Northern Ireland, we have gained nothing but more of the old political nonsense. The politicians we trusted to place faith in our abilities and arm us with the tools to succeed have robbed us, removing the smallest of funding to new start-ups and making what funding their is too difficult to access.

There is a clear choice facing our politicians, either provide the funding to the people of Northern Ireland and arm us with the tools to become entrepreneurs or step aside, for if working in a call centre is not good enough for your child, it's not good enough for ours!