North West 200 is 'too big an event for Northern Ireland to lose': Ian Paisley

The North West 200 is “too big for Northern Ireland to lose,” and will most likely go ahead as scheduled, but the wrangle over insurance costs should never have been made public, the MP for North Antrim has said.

DUP MP and road racing enthusiast Ian Paisley also said it was regrettable that government has not done more to guarantee the event’s long-term future.

"A lot of work has gone in to trying to get a revised [insurance] quote, to allow the race to proceed, and I’m fairly confident that between multiple attempts to get this, it will ultimately happen.

"It’s too big an event for Northern Ireland to lose,” he said.

"Government has failed to adopt and to make PLC Northern Ireland benefit from the North West 200.

"This is a private club that has done this and delivered more than £12 million of expenditure in the area year in, year out.

"Government has been given the opportunity time and time again – my taskforce put it on to government that Northern Ireland PLC should take charge of motorsport and let the whole economy benefit from it.

"They have failed to take that opportunity. I hear lots of people saying ‘government should step in and do this, that and the other’ – government hasn’t, to date, demonstrated the capacity to do this sort of thing… and that is why people are making a success of it without government, or in spite of government”.

Commenting on the public nature of the insurance difficulties, Mr Paisley said: "This should have been resolved privately... but sadly we are where we are.”