The Boston headquartered IT security specialist Rapid7 is recruiting a "talent scout" for its software innovation centre in Belfast which will celebrate its first year in the city next month.
The company, which plans to create 75 jobs in the North by 2016, says it is a very exciting time for its “rapidly expanding Belfast office” .
But what brought Rapid7 – which recently reported a year- on-year 44 per cent increase in total revenue for the second quarter of 2015 to $25.8 million (€22.8m) – to the North?
According to chief executive Corey Thomas, his interest was sparked by a meeting with then first minister Peter Robinson and deputy first minister Martin McGuinness in October 2013 when they were on a trade mission to the United States.
Addressing a business event in Boston, Robinson said: “Northern Ireland has come a long way since the devolved administration; politically, socially and economically. We have many of the building blocks in place to take our economy to a higher level.”
Fast forward nearly two years and not many people would agree today. It is not that Northern Ireland is not still looking for investment and business from Boston – far from it, as highlighted by this week’s visit by the Lord Mayor of Belfast to the city.
Sinn Féin councillor Arder Carson, a former butcher, plans to build on the Sister City Agreement signed between Boston and Belfast last year and sell the attractions of the city to a new audience.
Ice hockey
“We are building on our international relations and also extending a welcome to new investment and tourism opportunities between our cities,” the mayor said.
He will be heavily promoting an ice-hockey tournament in Belfast in November which, it is hoped, will attract a new generation of tourists to the city.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association Friendship Four ice-hockey college tournament will be played over the US Thanksgiving weekend – in Belfast's SSE Arena – the first time the games have been played outside of the US.
City officials hope this will bring large numbers of not just local ice-hockey fans but also those from further afield like the US, Britain and Ireland.
They believe that potential international coverage of the sports event will deliver a positive lift for Belfast.
But there can be little doubt that, while the Lord Mayor of Belfast is in Boston this week, when he will meet with Boston's mayor Marty Walsh, someone, somewhere is going to ask him what exactly is going on in Northern Ireland.
There has been widespread media coverage in the US of the North’s latest political troubles – not the perfect backdrop for a public relations exercise designed to showcase the city in a positive light.
But it is not just the Lord Mayor of Belfast who should worry about awkward questions during his Boston trip according to one prominent all-island business organisation.
If Northern Ireland continues on its path, it risks “being condemned to an economic abyss” the Centre for Competitiveness says.
The not-for-profit organisation, whose members include some of the biggest local employers, says the politicians must get back to the business of government and create a workable, long-term economic plan.
The schedules of both the Scottish parliament's minister for business Fergus Ewing and the Welsh minister for enterprise Edwina Hart, they are packed with events, meetings and company visits and they would also probably be more than happy to squeeze in a visit with any potential new investor if the opportunity arose.
In Northern Ireland, there would be no such meeting because, technically, it no longer has a minister for enterprise.
No minister
According to a spokesman for the Department for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, it “will continue to function and to meet its statutory duties” – there is just no minister at home this week.
So what kind of message is that to send out to investors or anyone really with a stake in the Northern Ireland economy? Not the right one according to the Centre for Competitiveness.
“Failure by our politicians to find a workable way forward in the short term will condemn Northern Ireland to an economic abyss and increase its dependency on the continued subvention from Treasury,” it warns.
