For many years reliable information and analysis comparing Northern Ireland and the Republic was surprisingly sparse. The data and studies were there on both sides of the Border, but rigorous comparative analysis was lacking in many areas and sporadic in others.
For this reason, the work undertaken in recent years by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), funded under the Shared Island Initiative by the Irish Government is both welcome and important. Fact are the best basis for policy. As a summary of the research published yesterday shows, work remains to be done in several areas, but some key conclusions – drawn together from a variety of earlier reports – are clear.
The Republic has, in recent years, become a more developed, higher-income economy, partly due to greater levels of foreign direct investment. That said, as the report points out, full comparisons of living standards are tricky. Inequality in earned incomes is greater in the Republic, though a more progressive tax system – and more widespread welfare supports in Northern Ireland – level the playing field for after-tax income.
There are a few key messages. One is that the educational system in Northern Ireland requires investment and policy change. Rates of early school leaving in the North are two to three times those in the Republic, and fewer have university qualifications. In turn this has a knock-on impact on lifetime income and on wider economic development. Those who are streamed via the Northern Ireland system into grammar schools seem particularly at risk of leaving school early.
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Under the Belfast Agreement – and in other areas – there is already significant North-South cooperation. But there is clearly room for more. There are, for example, specific areas where the health systems work together on both sides of the Border, but scope for more to be done, with long waiting lists a problem across the island.
Barriers to progress in areas such as health, education, the environment and agriculture “have been primarily political in nature, ” the report says, stemming either from the long periods of suspension of Stormont or “ingrained political viewpoints.” The latter are a target of the Shared Island Initiative, though whether it can accelerate new policy cooperation remains to be seen.
The report points to the constraints under which Stormont operates, with limited fund-raising powers. The North’s economy has been given an opportunity under the Windsor Framework to attract new inward investment – but maximising this requires policy and political stability. And there are questions for the Republic, too. The two jurisdictions cooperate well on tourism, for example, but would the Republic do the same on foreign direct investment? On one small island, with diverse offerings to investors, doing so would just be common sense,
