A minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly is warning that continuing sectarian violence in North Belfast could threaten the viability of an American-owned call centre.
Northern Ireland Enterprise Minister Sir Reg Empey has written to local politicians seeking their help in ending the violence.
The TeleTech call centre was set up on the interface Duncairn Gardens site in August, 2000, with more than £11 million in government aid.
It promised 1,000 jobs over a number of years, and is currently ahead of target with 300 employees and actively recruiting more staff.
But the centre, which provides 24-hour customer call services to companies around the world, has been forced to suspend operations twice because of violence surrounding its site.
TeleTech European president William Walker has written to Sir Reg expressing "increasing concern" at the level of violence in the Duncairn Gardens area.
Mr Walker cited one recented incident in which an employee was seriously injured when he was hit on the head with a brick when leaving work. He required hospital treatment and stitches.
In another incident two days later, the company was forced to close the premises for several hours because of violence surrounding an Orange parade.
Sir Reg has written to the area's six Assembly members saying TeleTech is bound by very strict agreements that guarantee to answer clients' calls during contracted periods.
He wrote: "Any significant interruption to normal business may lead to clients reviewing their contracts and insisting that their business be transferred to an alternative TeleTech location, thus reducing the viability of the Belfast operation."