North poll shows strong business support for Britain joining euro

There has been a mixed response in Northern Ireland to a survey by the BBC that found 60 per cent of companies there favour Britain joining the euro.

Some in the business community said the poll's relevance was undermined by the fact small businesses were not included while others said the survey might have been "too simple".

Five hundred chief executives of firms with more than 10 employees were asked if they favoured joining the euro. Of those who responded, 60.4 per cent were in favour with 39.6 per cent against.

The survey was conducted on behalf of BBC Northern Ireland by PricewaterhouseCoopers for BBC Northern Ireland's Business Day programme yesterday.

East of the River Bann, euro support was weakest but still significant at 56.8 per cent. To the west, the less-affluent and least-developed part of the North, support was as high as 67.5 per cent.

Mr Nigel Smyth, director of the Confederation of Business Industry (CBI) in Northern Ireland, said the absence of a "don't know" option for respondents to the poll may have distorted its findings.

He said the survey showed a higher level of support for the euro than he would have expected.

"Having said that, support for the euro has always been traditionally higher in Northern Ireland than the rest of the UK," he said.

Many of the North's firms, particularly smaller firms, were "on the front line" of currency fluctuations and would favour measures to negate the adverse affects of such fluctuations, he said.

He would have expected 35- 40 per cent of firms to favour the euro with "10 per cent to 15 per cent to be against it under any circumstances, with a lot of floaters in between".

At the "Europe yes. Euro no" campaign - a coalition of business interests opposing the euro - chairman Mr Bill Jeffrey said the exclusion of smaller firms from the survey meant the findings did not accurately reflect true feelings

"Excluding small businesses gives a skewed result," he said. "Eighty-nine per cent of the VAT-registered businesses in Northern Ireland employ fewer than 10 people \ there are hundreds more who are not registered. It is these businesses, the majority of which are in the rapidly expanding IT and knowledge-based industries, that are likely to bear the brunt of the euro and who, if asked, would say no."

Mr Jeffrey added that firms in Ulster were worried about the price rises seen in the Republic when the euro was introduced. He said these rises, along with the conversion costs, would damage Ulster's competitiveness and ultimately cost jobs.

The rapid rate at which growth in the Republic's economy had slowed recently was attributable to both worsening global economic conditions and the effects of the introduction of the euro, he said.

The European Central Bank's control of interest rates in the euro zone had also added to member-states' difficulties, he added.

Mr Eamon McElroy, chairperson of the pro-euro Northern Ireland in Europe group, said the findings, backed up anecdotal evidence from "our campaigning, show that the majority of wealth creators and employers in the province recognise that the euro is at the heart of our future prosperity".

"Well over half of our exports go to euro-zone countries, and the burden caused by the UK's continued absence from the motor of the European economy has to be lifted if we are to remain a viable trading region of the EU, as well as the UK," he said.

"Last month, a special conference of farmers and food producers organised by the Ulster Farmers Union (October 9th) saw an even larger endorsement for the euro. Two-thirds of the delegates voted for the proposition that 'the euro is a friend to farmers'. The BBC poll shows that the people working for jobs and prosperity in Northern Ireland recognise that the economic case for the euro is overwhelming."