Comhairle nan Eilean Siar PRESS RELEASE 8 December 2000 For Use: Immediately

Comhairle Slams Claims of Diffidence

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar's Chairman of Development Services, Mr. Donald Maclean has hit out at a report by the Scottish Executive's Enterprise Committee which claims that the Western Isles may lose out on the location of call centres because employees are not assertive enough.

Mr. Maclean said: "I find it very disappointing that a generalisation like this should be made about people in the islands and other areas in the Highlands. It is simply nonsense. The Western Isles has an educated, trained, highly skilled workforce, many of which come from outside the islands anyway, which is more than capable of taking on these kinds of jobs. The existing I.T. companies operating in the Islands have had tremendous success. The problem in the Islands is not the workforce but the lack of employment opportunities and it would have been more useful if the MSPs had concentrated on addressing that issue rather than perpetuating outdated and erronous perceptions which have no basis in reality and are extremely unhelpful to an economy which is trying to attract investment."

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