Hopes for 1,800 jobs in Northern Ireland have disappeared after Taiwanese textile firm Hualon abandoned plans for a £157 million sterling (€240 million) factory in Co Antrim.

The company was originally offered £61 million in British government aid in 1994 towards developing a huge factory on a 100-acre site at Corr's Corner, Newtownabbey.

But Industrial Development Board (IDB) chief executive Mr Bruce Robinson said: "The opportunity for the project no longer exists due to the economic and financial situation in Asia Pacific."

Mr Robinson stressed the IDB had never paid out any of the proposed grant and was now seeking to attract private investors to the Ballyhenry business park.