Author name: Paul Gosling

The skills challenge facing Northern Ireland exporters

“Firms involved in global markets tend to require higher skilled workers than firms that only serve the domestic market,” according to a study from the World Trade Organisation. The implications of the WTO report (‘Skills and Export Competitiveness for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises’) are that businesses, especially smaller firms, are dependent on the quality of

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Mutualising Northern Ireland Water

Capital investment is essential for economic growth and to upgrade our infrastructure. This is especially the case with NI Water, whose works backlog is constraining housing and industrial development and urban regeneration. Public spending on infrastructure is limited by spending rules self-imposed by the UK government, concerned about fiscal credibility in global markets. High levels

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Assisted dying

My mother died two decades ago from Motor Neurone Disease. I was living in Derry, with primary caring responsibility for three young children. The guilt of not helping to look after her in those final months lingers with me. It was my father who provided that caring role. But it could never be adequate to

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