A modest jobs boost is on the way for the Lisburn area.

NI Social Development Minister, Margaret Ritchie has today officially opened a new small business unit in the city - the Cloona Business Centre.

Comprising of a block of seven units and situated within the grounds of Cloona House, this social economy enterprise will provide attractive accommodation for light commercial business tenants.

It will provide much needed incubation workspace for new businesses opportunities as well as creating employment opportunities in the Colin area.

Speaking at the event the Minister paid tribute to all those involved saying: "This purpose built facility is a testimony to the vision and determination of all the people who made this happen, particularly those from the Cloona Group.

"The new centre will provide jobs and business opportunities for the people of Colin. There are already 12 jobs in the pipeline and more may follow," she commented.

Emphasising the importance of this project in sustaining community based services, the Minister said that she wanted to see more examples of projects that help communities help themselves in the longer term: "In our difficult economic times, we need more social economy projects such as this where the revenue from community owned assets can be ploughed back into local services.

"At a time when government budgets are under so much pressure this kind of approach is particularly welcome.

"It demonstrates that groups like Cloona have the resourcefulness and capacity to reduce their reliance on public sector funding and to push ahead under their own steam," she concluded, also paying tribute to the role of the International Fund for Ireland in the scheme and to Lisburn City Council, each of which were important in making the project a reality.

(BMcC/JM)