After years of seeing the industrial heart ripped out of Belfast with the decline of textiles and heavy engineering, announcements by two of its remaining industrial employers this week were in a way as welcome as anything happening at Hillsborough.

Bombardier Aerospace, the Canadian group which has a substantial presence in the North, announced plans to create up to 1,200 jobs in a £100 million sterling (€160 million) investment over the next two years on the back of growing demand for its planes.

Over at Harland & Wolff, news that the yard had signed letters of intent for the $350 million (€371 million) construction of two luxury cruise vessels gives a massive boost to the operation and its workforce.

Only a month or so ago, the future of the jobs was uncertain. Now with one order on the books and this one in the pipeline, the longer-term future of the workforce seems more secure.