The North's Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister, Sir Reg Empey, has warned that Northern Ireland could stand to lose millions of pounds in investment if paramilitary groups did not begin to decommission their illegal weapons.
The impasse in the peace process was discouraging both local and foreign companies from making major investment decisions, Sir Reg told MLAs during an Assembly debate on the economy.
"I know of a number of companies who are delaying making major investment and employment decisions because we have yet to sort out our problems. The warlords must make up their minds; they can continue as they are, and preside over continuing punishment beatings, growing hopelessness and dereliction, or they can acknowledge the great opportunities that await us all," Sir Reg added.
As competition was intense for a limited number of mobile investment projects, many sectors of the North's economy were suffering due to the political uncertainties, the Minister insisted.
Tourism, in particular, was only operating at a third of its potential due to issues such as the Drumcree marching dispute.
Welcoming the lowest unemployment rate in the North in years - 5. 8 per cent - an Ulster Unionist MLA, Dr Esmond Birnie, nevertheless warned that thousands of jobs could be lost in farming and the construction industry if the Executive did not intervene.
While government agencies needed to move away from a "grant culture" to one of equity and venture capital, issues - such as raising wages, which stood at 85 per cent of the UK average, and investment in research and development - needed to be tackled by Stormont ministers, he added.
A Sinn Fein MLA, Dr Dara O'Hagan, said there were 60,000 "hidden" unemployed in the North and many people were employed in low-paid contract work which did not offer them employees' rights.
Young Catholic men were still 2-1/2 times more likely to be jobless than Protestants due to "institutionalised discrimination and sectarianism", she claimed.
The Executive was urged to lobby the British Chancellor to drop his new aggregate tax on raw materials. An SDLP MLA, Mr Tommy Gallagher, said the tax could pump up construction costs by up to 40 per cent and would eat up much of the extra money ear-marked for road improvements.
In other Assembly business, MLAs voted 48 to 28 to back an SDLP motion to allow Sunday betting at race meetings.
During a heated debate Sinn Fein accused the DUP of maintaining a mentality of "fundamentalist bigotry" on the issue while the DUP argued there was not enough time to put forward another major piece of legislation this year.