Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: NI Secretary

BBC News reports that Harland and Wolff has entered administration, with accountancy firm BDO formally appointed to oversee the Belfast shipyard.

Having employed more than 30,000 at its peak, the move could now put 120 jobs at risk and spell the end of the iconic firm, best known for building the Titanic.

Unions representing workers have called for the shipyard to be renationalised.

They argue it would be cheaper for the government to keep the shipyard open.

However, the government has said the crisis is "ultimately a commercial issue".

The Northern Ireland Office said NI Secretary Julian Smith "understands the impact" uncertainty over the shipyard will have for workers and their families.

It said Mr Smith "had made it clear that he will continue to do everything he can to secure the future of this historic site and ensure workers' interests are protected".

More here on this development at the Queen's Island shipyard.  

Published in Belfast Lough

William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland and internationally for many years, with his work appearing in leading sailing publications on both sides of the Atlantic. He has been a regular sailing columnist for four decades with national newspapers in Dublin, and has had several sailing books published in Ireland, the UK, and the US. An active sailor, he has owned a number of boats ranging from a Mirror dinghy to a Contessa 35 cruiser-racer, and has been directly involved in building and campaigning two offshore racers. His cruising experience ranges from Iceland to Spain as well as the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, and he has raced three times in both the Fastnet and Round Ireland Races, in addition to sailing on two round Ireland records. A member for ten years of the Council of the Irish Yachting Association (now the Irish Sailing Association), he has been writing for, and at times editing, Ireland's national sailing magazine since its earliest version more than forty years ago