Belfast briefing: seeing North’s problems in a better light

Leaders of organisations that make promises to their shareholders on which they fail to deliver normally have to pay for it in one way or another.

So, as “Northern Ireland plc” appears yet again to be on the verge of calling in the receivers, it is only natural to ask who is to blame this time around.

The plc's current board of directors – in this case the Northern Ireland Executive – has made plenty of forward-looking statements, not least the Stormont House Agreement which contained a profusion of promises from budget to welfare reform deals and the possibility of a new rate of corporation tax.

In the UK, a director of public or private limited companies is bound by law to “act in the way s/he considers, in good faith, would be most likely to promote the success of the company for the benefit of its members as a whole”. Based on where the North is at the moment, it is probably fair to say some of the current directors of Northern Ireland plc have not quite fulfilled this responsibility.

Many local shareholders are understandably worried about where it is heading but one influential supporter believes firmly that the lights will not go out on this enterprise.

Frustration

Stephen McCully, the recently appointed president of the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry and managing director of Power NI, one of the largest local energy companies, says “life will go on” despite the current uncertainty.

“Northern Ireland plc will not go bust. There is definitely a sense of growing frustration in the business community over what is happening. In Northern Ireland we have a tendency to look to the past but what we need to do now is look forward more positively,” McCully says.

He says the chamber’s approach has always been to “encourage politicians to move forward. There is little point of being over-critical.”

But McCully admits the situation in Stormont represents something of “a low point for the business community”.

“There was a real sense of optimism a few months back with the Stormont House Agreement that we were all on a new path. For a while, we had a very constructive debate about real economic issues. All the business organisations worked collaboratively and very closely in partnership with politicians from all parties around corporation tax.”

There are concerns that it is now a missed opportunity but both from his own perspective and that of the chamber, which represents the interests of more than 1,000 businesses, they are not giving up on it.

“I don’t think there was a proper debate about what a lower rate of corporation tax could mean. I believe it could be a game-changer. One of the true benefits . . . is that it would improve society generally because, by creating more jobs, it would in turn create new opportunities to be able to deal with levels of extreme deprivation,” McCully says.

He says the debate goes much further than the simple argument about creating a tax haven or giving big companies tax breaks.

“It is about restoring pride and dignity. It is about getting more jobs into Northern Ireland. If you look at where we are, we are still struggling since the recession compared with where our closest neighbours are. We are going to get the austerity but we are not going to get the game-changer and that’s why we in the chamber are going to keep pushing hard for a lower rate of corporation tax.”

Increase

In his role as managing director of Power NI, McCully sees some evidence that businesses in the North are beginning to “get back on their feet”, albeit at a much slower rate than he would like.

The company, which is part of the Viridian Group, supplies electricity to about 600,000 homes, farms and businesses.

“We are seeing an increase in demand from our customers but the turnaround has been slow. However, I am more positive today about the outlook for the economy than I was two or three years ago,” McCully says.

He for one, it seems, believes there may be light at the end of the political mineshaft that the North is currently trapped in.