One of Northern Ireland's biggest business lobby groups sent politicians a simple message yesterday: if you want the economy to keep growing, get back to governing locally.
For the last two years Northern Ireland has been ruled direct from London, after the collapse of the devolved Belfast assembly.
"The key thing for any successful or wannabe successful economy is political stability," said Mr Glyn Roberts, press and parliamentary officer at the Federation of Small Business.
"Having our own Assembly is good for business. We hope that there can be a deal and we would encourage all the parties to go the extra mile," Mr Roberts said.
"We want to get back to a position where locally elected representatives are making decisions again. Continued direct rule is not an option."
Mr Roberts and other business leaders say political uncertainty has discouraged internal and external investment in an economy that flowered after the ceasefires and peace accords of the 1990s, and risks knocking economic growth off track.
Between 1990 and 1999 Northern Ireland's gross domestic product had the largest increase of all the UK regions, growing 1 per cent faster a year than the UK.
Its GDP is expected to expand by 3 per cent this year compared to 3.1 per cent in the United Kingdom as a whole and 4.7 percent in the Republic.
The federation wants to revive the Assembly because it says local politicians are more accountable and more likely to heed the views of local business, especially the small enterprises which are the backbone of the economy.
"When the Assembly was up and running, the buzz was a lot bigger in the business community," agreed Mr Ian Morrow, deputy chief executive at the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce.
"People feel more secure if there's a stable political environment."
Key to sustaining economic growth will be moving from its heavy reliance on public sector employment: some 32 per cent of all employees in Northern Ireland are in the public sector, compared to 18 per cent in the rest of the UK. - (Reuters)