TUV spokesman David Vance has commented on the news that even as unemployment in Northern Ireland rises and levels of business fall with local firms experiencing an intense profit squeeze, the Minister for Enterprise Arlene Foster has effectively gone part-time.

“With Mrs Foster deciding to take on the responsibilities of First Minister in addition to her current duties, are the best interests of Northern Ireland business being sacrificed to ensure the survival of the DUP? Is this another example of putting Party before Country? Surely there has never been a time when Enterprise deserved greater   Ministerial concentration and yet at this vital moment, the DUP has prioritised its own internal difficulties. Northern Ireland business deserves much better.”