The Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern warned today that the North is missing out on potentially lucrative investment from American firms because of recent loyalist rioting in Belfast.
Speaking at a conference involving the Irish Business and Employers Confederation and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) today, Mr Ahern said that high-powered business chiefs had been left dismayed at recent scenes of orchestrated street violence in the North.
"In some instances I was made aware of the fact that future investment, particularly in the north, had been put on hold or postponed as a direct result of the scenes of violence which were broadcast on American networks," he said.
Mr Ahern , a United Nations special envoy, said key investors in the Irish-American community were turning their backs on the north due to the threat of a return to sectarian feuds and sustained violence.
"Scenes of violence on the streets of Belfast do great harm to our image abroad," he said.
"We must not let the positive messages about the vibrancy of our island economy get lost among the negative news headlines. We must be clear in our condemnation of sectarianism and clear in our determination to deal with it.
"People need to know that sectarianism has an economic as well as a human cost: it saps business confidence, costs jobs and mortgages, trapping communities in a cycle of poverty and hopelessness."
And he called on the CBI to reiterate its message that an elimination of sectarianism was needed to deliver a better business environment, jobs and better livelihoods.
Mr Ahern said business chiefs should take an all-island approach to their future and to attracting investment.
"You are all-island businesses. We must respond to your needs as all-island businesses. We must start thinking strategically, as you do, about what we can do on an all-island basis," he said.