North Antrim Ulster Unionist MLA Robin Swann has expressed his concern at the news of further redundancies being announced as a result of the Patton Group’s collapse.
Robin commented,"The loss of almost 150 jobs as part of the Joseph Hughes Group is placed in administration is a tragedy for the employees and their families in the run up to Christmas. This is another blow in the wake of the losses at Patton.’
“Unfortunately having listened to the concerns of many sub-contractors at the time when the Patton Group went into administration, this is still only the tip of a very big iceberg. Many companies are having cash flow problems as a result of the Patton collapse which are otherwise long standing successful firms. I do have to question how flexible the banks are being in this situation. Is it a case of them grabbing what they can and pushing companies to the wall without any concern for the wider economy?’
“The Minister for Finance and Personnel along with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment both tell us that they have done all that they can in lobbying the banks. On behalf of the thousands of people in North Antrim who will be affected by the knock on effects of the Patton Group’s collapse, I call on them to go the extra mile and again try to stabilise the situation where many otherwise successful businesses are forced to the wall by the unrealistic expectations of banks.’