PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CAMPAIGNING GROUP’S GAMESHOW STUNT AT STORMONT EXPOSES FINANCE MINISTER JOHN O’DOWD’S BIG GIVEAWAY TO CORPORATE POLLUTERS, AND ISRAEL-LINKED COMPANIES
People-powered campaign group Act Now held a campaign stunt in front of Stormont calling on the Finance Minister John O’Dowd to end the multi-million pound giveaway for massive corporations in the North (20th October 2025).
“John O’Dowd’s Big Business Giveaway” involved ‘John O”Dowd’ rewarding some of the most controversial companies in Northern Ireland with massive financial giveaways in rate exemptions through the spin of a prize wheel.
Act Now’s petition with over 3100 signatures calling on the Finance Minister to scrap this exemption for big, multi-million pound businesses was also officially submitted to the Assembly on Monday by Gerry Carroll MLA just after the action.
A Freedom of Information request by Act Now has revealed the total cost of the rates exemption for the following companies under the Industrial Derating policy since 2011:
Caterpillar - £13,250,386 | The company with factories based in Belfast and Larne was named in UN Rapporteur Francesca Albanese’s ‘From economy of occupation to economy of genocide’ report as one of 60 companies profiting from Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Moy Park - £9,729,919 | NI’s first £2 billion pound company who have breached environmental law hundreds of times around Lough Neagh.
Coca-Cola - £6,965,648 | The $12.5 billion company with a bottling and packaging facility in Lisburn has factories in the occupied West Bank which are illegal settlements under International law.
LCC Group - £4,479,861 | The Cookstown-headquartered energy company behind the controversial plans for an oil terminal at Whitehead and owned by Michael Loughran who is worth £530 million.
Kingspan - £4,363,397 | The €8.6bn company supplied combustible materials to the Grenfell Tower for its disastrous refurbishment before the fire that killed 72 people in 2017.
RLC(UK) - £1,105,059 | The publicly-funded Newtownabbey and Crumlin-based company makes components for F-35 fighter jets which Israel uses to drop bombs on Gaza.
Moyola Precision Engineering - £555,595 | Documents uncovered by Act Now recently provided further proof that the publicly-funded Castledawson-firm supplied F-35 fighter jet components to Israel.
Dalradian Gold Limited - £58,849 | A Canadian mining company who want to open a massive goldmine in the Sperrins that would destroy the local ecology and facing mass opposition from the local community.
Thales - £280,463.33 (24/25 ratings year only) | A French company with factories in East Belfast and Ballynahinch supplied equipment for Israeli armed drones since 2018.
It is likely that the numbers above are a conservative estimate, as the Land & Property Service did not start recording data on this policy until 2011/12 - even though the policy has been in place for decades prior.
Roan Ellis-O’Neill, Campaigner at Act Now said:
“While the rest of us fork out an average of £1,180 per year for our household rates bill, Stormont gives massive giveaways to businesses and multi-national companies who read like a who’s-who of damaging business practices - from those who seek to profit off the destruction of our precious ecosystems like Moy Park and Dalradian, to those who are linked to fighter jets dropping 2000lb bombs on Gaza, as well as the notorious Kingspan, whose cruelty and disregard for human safety was laid bare by the Grenfell Inquiry. Our members are outraged by this and that’s why dozens of them have chipped in to support this action.”
The Industrial derating policy provides a 70% discount in rates for manufacturing spaces, and is awarded to more than 4,000 industrial properties in Northern Ireland. The average household rate bill in Northern Ireland in 2024-25 was £1,180.
Northern Ireland is the only region in the UK that maintains an Industrial Derating policy. The policy was abolished in England and Wales in 1963 and Scotland in 1995. In 2003, Stormont promised to phase out the derating policy following a public consultation.
Roan Ellis-O’Neill continued:
“It is time for John O’Dowd to take action and end these giveaways once and for all. He says that he can’t change the rates exemption policy because it would affect small businesses here. But he is the Finance Minister after all with powers to make all sorts of changes to the rates system. He can end these giveaways for businesses with multi-million pound profits without it affecting small businesses here. This is a political decision - one where Minister John O’Dowd is siding with big businesses, some which are actively complicity in and profiting off the genocide in Gaza.”
ENDS//
For more information or photos please contact: Roan Ellis-O’Neill, Campaigner at Act Now - info@actnowni.org
NOTES:
Act Now is the first people-powered campaigning community for Northern Ireland, and has over 30,000 members who take action on a range of issues, including climate change, education, childcare, and anti-racism. www.actnowni.org
The Freedom of Information request with industrial derating data on the listed companies since 2011: https://assets.movement.industries/rails/active_storage/blobs/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaHBBbW9lIiwiZXhwIjpudWxsLCJwdXIiOiJibG9iX2lkIn19--7c7765f09d4e59e91aee0501510fc7a3e40ea6ae/image.png?client_id=47
List of companies/properties benefiting from Industrial Derating as at 31st March 2025 - from FOI request: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jrC_wX9qtGxqLpgjy8i9pWWZFRgEamIN/view?usp=drive_link
Committee for Enterprise, Trade and Investment: Research Paper - The Phasing Out Of Industrial De-Rating In Northern Ireland - https://www.niassembly.gov.uk/assembly-business/committees/2007-2011/enterprise-trade-and-investment/research-papers/the-phasing-out-of-industrial-de-rating-in-northern-ireland/
More information on the Industrial Derating policy: https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/industrial-derating
