SHADOW Northern Ireland Secretary Ms Mo Mowlam has described the recent rise in unemployment in Northern Ireland as "a blow to the whole community".
The numbers out of work and claiming benefit increased by 900 in June, according to the seasonally adjusted figures, bringing the total number unemployed to 86,600, or 11.2 per cent of the workforce.
"Recent events will not have engendered business confidence in Northern Ireland," Ms Mowlam said. "Tourism figures have already been affected, and this has potentially disastrous consequences for jobs in this industry.
Economy Minister Baroness Denton also said media coverage of the recent street violence would discourage potential investors.
"We all feel let down by the hatred we have seen," she said, "hut we need to make sure that everybody out there knows we are not closed for business".
Baroness Denton warned that meeting the cost of compensation claims from the business community for the disturbances would have to come from existing budgets.
"Expenditure was already tight," she said. "We don't have a bottomless pit of money, and we may not now be able to do all the things which make a difference to people's lives. If money allocated for new schools has to go on rebuilding schools that were burned down, then you have a problem."
