The empty shell of one of the North's former leading listed engineering companies could hold the key to solving unemployment and social deprivation problems in Belfast, according to a new report.

The former site of Mackie International, the London and Dublin Stock Exchange listed engineering company that boasted a large number of Irish investors prior to its demise, should be marketed as a new investment location for up-and-coming local companies, the report advocates.

The recommendation is one of a number of radical proposals put forward by the West Belfast and Greater Shankill economic task forces to tackle unemployment and poverty in the areas.

The two task forces, which were set up last May to identify practical solutions, were chaired by Mr Padraic White, former chief executive of the Industrial Development Board in Dublin, and Mr John Simpson, former senior lecturer in economics at Queen's University.

Mr White and Mr Simpson yesterday delivered the task forces' report on the economic issues facing the area and possible solutions to Sir Reg Empey, the North's Minister of Enterprise, and Mr Nigel Dodds, Minister of Social Development.

The task forces' report sets out a comprehensive set of proposals to help unemployed people overcome the barriers to getting a job and to achieve the economic regeneration in the entire area. Both Mr White and Mr Simpson believe the reduction of unemployment and deprivation in the west Belfast and Shankill areas on the scale envisaged in the report is in the interests of the wider community in Northern Ireland.

Among its key recommendations is the need to remove the "benefits trap" in Belfast. The report argues that the "disincentive effects" of the social security systems must be removed to reduce unwanted deterrents to job-seeking.