People Before Profit Cllr Shaun Harkin has said the Stormont Executive must act now to end Gaza genocide complicity.
Said Cllr Harkin: “Solidarity to everyone joining the protest at Moyola Engineering in Castledawson.
“To stop Israel’s barbarism it’s past urgent that government’s around the world stop supporting it. This includes the Stormont Executive. We should have absolutely no truck whatsoever with genocide.
“We are shocked at the details from ActNow’s report “INVEST NI, F-35S, MONEY FOR WAR CRIMES?”.
“The report finds that “Invest NI not only offered these four companies important financial support to help develop their factories, labour force and more; but also provided key administrative support to win contracts – including ones related to F-35s – and support with strategic plans.”
“The report further concludes that “From discussing F-35 contracts with BAE systems to seeking out tenders for F-35 parts abroad, the aforementioned meeting notes reveal that Invest NI had knowledge and actively sought out relationships within the F-35 programme.
“As a result, this raises questions over Invest NI statements that they have limited knowledge on what these companies produce and the countries they export to.”
On Moyola Engineering in particular, the ActNow report concludes that:
– Moyola Precision Engineering received £5.67m from Invest NI in the past 22 years, with some of that allocated in 2023/24.
– Since 2017, Invest NI has met with Moyola 62 times.
– As well as client meetings, Invest NI made multiple site visits to the Moyola factory and were given a factory tour. Invest NI have also conducted specialised meetings such as on the topic of “Precision Engineering Skills meeting.
– Invest NI met at the site to discuss R&D projects and met as recently as January 2025.
