Cross-Border co-operation on infrastructure, the economy and tourism is set to increase significantly, following a major Anglo-Irish study published yesterday by the Irish and British governments.
The move came as the Irish Government is preparing to contribute hundreds of millions of euro to a cross-Border "peace dividend fund", if Sinn Féin and the DUP restore powersharing by next March. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, who commissioned the report last February with Northern Secretary Peter Hain, said: "No one today can be economically partitionist."
Under the plan, co-operation on roads, rail and air links, energy and education would be accelerated to ensure that the €100 billion earmarked for spending on infrastructure in both parts of Ireland over the next decade is well spent.
"More joined-up planning and delivery will give better outcomes for people throughout the island," the 80-page report states, although its "all-Ireland" tone has already upset some unionists.
Senior Irish and British government officials, Northern Ireland Office staff and economic experts, such as Dr John Fitzgerald of the Economic and Social Research Institute, produced the report. Mr Hain said it set out "a compelling vision of a strong, competitive and socially inclusive island economy", whose strength and growth were not impaired by the existence of the Border.
However, the document insists that cross-Border co-operation should occur only where it can be shown that the Border has created problems that need to be faced jointly, rather than separately.
The officials were careful to avoid recommending any change to Northern Ireland's increasingly unpopular 30 per cent corporation tax rate, saying only that both governments would continue to discuss it. Efforts to unify the electricity market on the island will be completed in 2012 once a second interconnector is finished, while the governments also plan one plant to store liquefied natural gas for the island.
The Irish Government is examining ways of bringing Corrib gas to Donegal, via Sligo, and a spur line that could also supply gas to Fermanagh.The Industrial Development Authority and Invest NI should work together on efforts to make the island more attractive to foreign investors, and offer services abroad to businesses from both jurisdictions, the report said. While Sinn Féin and the SDLP welcomed the document, the leader of the Ulster Unionists, Sir Reg Empey said it could "poison relations" between Northern Ireland and the Republic.