THE head of a leading manufacturing body has said "business isn't the enemy" after the DUP accused it of not accurately reflecting companies' experiences of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson responded to a News Letter interview with a manufacturer who wants the protocol to be removed by saying it reflected the "kind of real business experiences that you will not hear Manufacturing NI refer to".
"As far as they are concerned there is nothing to see here. Yet, I have dozens of such businesses contacting me with similar issues all the time," he tweeted.
However, Stephen Kelly, head of Manufacturing NI (MNI), said the body has consistently shared "the good stories and the bad stories" around the protocol and branded Sir Jeffrey's remarks "unhelpful".
"Business isn't the enemy here," he said.
"Business is trying to resolve these issues."
He added: "There has been a pattern here, that evidence-based speaking truth to power is a difficult space to be in. But we have our own constituency which is the people who get up on a Monday and have to generate an income to pay wages on a Friday.
"Their interests are as important as any other interests. All we can do is gather the evidence, speak the truth, share the good and the bad of that truth and share it as widely as we can, which we've been doing."
Ashley Pigott, managing director of AJ Power in Craigavon, which exports diesel generators to more than 80 countries, gave a wide-ranging interview to the News Letter in which he questioned figures provided by MNI about businesses and the protocol. MNI surveys in 2021 found around one in five manufacturers wanted the post-Brexit trade arrangement to be replaced. That figure dropped to one in eight in MNI's latest survey.
Mr Pigott, whose base was used by the DUP to launch its election manifesto in April, suggested the survey only reflected a small percentage of manufacturing businesses.
However, Mr Kelly said the "widest possible audience" is contacted to take part in MNI's surveys.
"The number of responses is not as relevant as the fact that the audience is not selected," he said.
"It goes to everybody - firms who are doing well, firms who are not doing as well, firms who support Manufacturing NI, firms who have never supported Manufacturing NI."
He said in 2019, ahead of a possible no-deal Brexit, the body received money from the British government which enabled it to buy a list of manufacturers.
MNI employed a call centre to ring every company to verify their details and confirm they wanted to receive information.
He added that firms were free to either respond or not respond to the survey.
Mr Kelly said he had contacted Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and Ashley Pigott to request separate meetings.
He said the body had consistently shared "the good stories and the bad stories" with everyone from Maros Sefcovic, vice-president of the European Commission, to "three ministers responsible for the protocol, directly with the prime minister himself, in committee evidence to the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the committees in Europe and the media".
"There are people doing well from the protocol, incredibly well from the protocol, and people who are having to deal with the challenges," he said.
"All of those people are important and we articulate an evidence base and a case study of their views."
Mr Kelly said he was confident MNI is providing accurate information.
"I think this is an attempt to sit down and get others to be quiet," he said.
"But no one is representing anyone's interests if they just sit and be compliant. We need to get the good and the bad out there in order to resolve it."
