We're in this together, Donaldson says of recession

DEMOCRATIC UNIONIST Party junior minister Jeffrey Donaldson says the Northern Ireland administration takes “no comfort” from forecasts that the recession will be more severe in the Republic than in the North.

He said some of the key objectives in growing the North’s economy were dependent on factors such as advances in Dublin’s financial services sector. Mr Donaldson was speaking in Dublin at an event organised by the Irish Association and the Institute for British-Irish Studies.

“The fact that the economy in the South has perhaps taken a bigger hit than our economy in Northern Ireland is no comfort to us,” he said.

Mr Donaldson said he wanted to make it clear that the Northern Ireland administration was “up for” economic co-operation that would benefit both parts of the island.

“We want to see it work – we’re actively looking for ways in which we can increase that collaboration for mutual benefit,” he said.

“We’re in this together, along with our neighbours in Great Britain, and given the inter-workings of our economies there is great value in that co-operation and in that collaboration.”

Mr Donaldson said appropriate areas for considering co-operation arose where the Border created impediments to faster economic growth.

While Northern Ireland and the Republic would continue to pursue their own policies, there were steps that could be taken together.

Mr Donaldson said one impact of the weak pound had been a change in cross-Border shopping trends. “In the past, purchases tended to move in a North-South direction, with many people in Northern Ireland making the trip across the Border to purchase their fuel. Now it is moving in the other direction.”

Minister of State for Finance Martin Mansergh said the existence of two jurisdictions on the island posed some challenges to tackling the economic crisis. Shoppers going North were causing a significant loss of revenue to the Republic’s exchequer.

However, Dr Mansergh said it was important not to be distracted by a phenomenon he described as temporary.

“Indeed, we must not forget either that the cross-Border shopping flows went the other direction in the past, even the recent past. These things are fluid and changing.”