There must have been many Orangemen in Belfast and surrounding
areas feeling very sad when the last remaining ship on the
order book of Harland and Wolff's shipyard went down the slipway,
and according to most experts, bringing an end to a century
and a half of shipbuilding in Belfast.
All Ulster people with a feeling for 'The Yard' will have
experienced pangs of regret, but none more so than the Belfast
Orangemen. Generations of Orangemen, especially those from
East and North Belfast worked in the Queen's Island.
There are many Orange families with a shipbuilding tradition,
and a number of Belfast Orange Lodges have close connections
with the Island and its various shipbuilding trades.
Unless there is a dramatic turn in events, it looks as though
the days of building ships at Queen's Island are over, and
that is a desperate shame. Ironically, a few days after the
publicity about the last ship in Belfast, it was announced
in the House of Commons that two huge aircraft carriers are
to be built for the Royal Navy.
These ships are not due to go into service until the years
2011 and 2014, and in the meantime it will give a lot of work
to shipyards in Scotland and the North of England, as well
as France. Yes, a French company is to do roughly one-third
of the work, and in all this it is extremely disappointing
to find that Belfast has been left out.
There has been talk that some of the finishing and fitting
out work might go to Harland and Wolff but don't bank on it.
There are now only a few hundred workers employed at the Island
where 35,000 men were employed in 1945, and even as recently
as 1961 there were over 20,000.
By the time the new aircraft carriers are being fitted out,
many of the skills carried down in Belfast shipbuilding will
have been lost. Once a firm has closed and its workers and
potential workers go to other industries and professions,
it will be hard to replace.
Shipbuilding is the latest in a long string of Northern Ireland
industries to suffer from the twin effects of cheap overseas
labour, and the devastating impact of the European Common
Market - now the European Community.
Ulster's once prosperous fishing industry faces immense problems,
and agriculture, so long the rock of Northern Ireland society
and industry is facing unprecedented difficulties. An industry
once the envy of most of Europe is struggling to keep its
head above the financial parapet, and as the EC grows, with
more countries from Eastern Europe taking out membership,
it means the erosion of financial aid to Ulster agriculture
and increased subsidies to the newcomers.
It's a real tribute to Ulster workers and to the people of
this province that in spite of the loss of so many once might
industries and firms that the gap in many places has been
filled by new firms and new jobs.
But Northern Ireland, facing transport, fuel and other costs
not experienced to the same extent on the mainland, needs
extra help from the British Government. This means increased
investment, a drive to bring new industries, and a strengthening
of the infra-structure.
There are many once prosperous parts of Belfast which have
gone into sharp decline due to the closure of Mackies, the
Ropeworks, shipyard and other industries. Housing has deteriorated
and the atmosphere is a depressing one of decline and decay.
Millions need to be pumped into these areas to provide modern
housing, and an all-out effort made to bring in more jobs
and investment. The Belfast Agreement promised many things,
not least an invigorated economy and massive provision of
jobs. So far there has been no delivery on either front, and
that hasn't helped pro-Agreement politicians to 'sell' what
a majority of Unionists, and most Orangemen believe to be
a flawed deal which is much more to the benefit of republicans
and nationalists.
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