Jobs story 'dire' but Seagate 'clear success' for Derry

Seagate is now one of the world's largest manufacturers of disc drives

Sinn Fein MLA Maeve McLaughlin has said Londonderry has had a "clear success story" in Seagate.

Ms McLaughlin's comments come as the hard drive manufacturer celebrates its 20th anniversary in Derry this year.

But she said there was another "dire story" in relation to unemployment figures in Derry, Limavady and Strabane.

Unemployment figures released on Wednesday confirmed the region remains top of the jobless league.

Seagate' has become Derry's largest employer, with a staff of almost 1,400.

The factory makes a tiny specialised part for hard drives called a recording head.

It allows computers to store huge amounts of information, from music and photos to high definition video.

Ms McLaughlin said Seagate had been a "backbone" to the local economy.

"I do have to say that, reflecting on the amount of money that goes into the economy as a result of Seagate being here, and even the length of time it has been here, we have a clear success story," she said

"We have another dire story in relation to the unemployment figures in Derry, Limavady and Strabane.

"It has been key and it has been backbone to the economy and it certainly is a leader in its own right."

Ms McLaughlin called for a clear commitment from Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster to formulate a strategy and action plan for Derry and the north west.

"The facts remain that in 2010 there were three foreign direct investment visits to Derry, we've 203 acres of land for economic development that is vacant and only 403 jobs were promoted, never mind new or secured, last year in the city," she said.

"There were over 1,200 in South Belfast, those figures speak for themselves. There is something triggering investors to go to other areas that is not to being targeted in terms of Derry and the north west."

'Commitment'

Arlene Foster did not respond to BBC requests for comment, but DUP MP for East Londonderry Gregory Campbell defended the enterprise minister's record.

"When you look at the commitment Arlene Foster has made on a personal level, no economy minister has visited the north west more than she has," he said.

"When you look at the Allstate announcement made last week, when you look at Invest NI's international sales reps who were in the north west ten days ago, and I met them on two occasions when they were in Londonderry and Coleraine, the commitment is there.

"Hopefully there are other good news announcements in the coming months, I don't know.

"We need to sell the product that we have here which is a good, well-educated, available labour force which is a work force that is ready to get into work, provided that they are getting the labour opportunities.

"That's what Invest NI are there to do, we need to press them and make sure they come more often."

Seagate came to Northern Ireland in 1993 when it established the wafer fabrication facility at Springtown industrial estate.

Production started in 1994 with 300 employees, both local and recruited from across Europe.

It now employs almost 1,400 people out of Seagate's worldwide workforce of over 54,000.

The Springtown facility is the largest factory of its type in the recording head industry and the company said it supplies over a million heads every day for Seagate's global supply chain using some of the most advanced technology in existence.

The company was founded in 1979 and pioneered the building of 5.25 inch hard disc drives for PCs.

Seagate is now one of the world's largest manufacturers of disc drives.