East Belfast Progressive Unionist assembly member David Ervine said it was time to stop being sentimental about the shipyard and let it close if it was not a viable operation.

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But he points out that Barrow-in-Furness, where he lives, has lost about 9, 000 jobs from its naval shipyard in the last five years and local unemployment, at 5.8%, is lower than in Copeland, next door to Sellafield.

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Bowen made offhand comments during the trial about how his father might have been exposed to asbestos at Ingalls Shipyard.

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In Thursday's testimony, Todd Kosakowski of Maine's Boothbay Harbor Shipyard said he raised doubts about Bounty's seaworthiness weeks before it sailed into the storm.

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Comedian Billy Connolly, a former shipyard welder, had much of the congregation in fits of laughter as he recounted several anecdotes about his earlier life in the area.

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