Cowen: North and South must work together

An intensification of economic co-operation between the North and the Republic was called for by the Minister for Finance today.

Brian Cowan told an economic conference outside Belfast that greater working together would be good for both sides of the border.

He singled out the near €100m due to be invested in infrastructure improvements north and south over the coming decade.

He said it was a phenomenal amount of tax-payers money and with it went a huge responsibility to get it right.

“In my view, getting it right for the tax-payer both sides of the border means working together. Planning together. Pooling our resources,” he said.

There was also a need to share information on hard policy choices and joining up that which needed to be joined up.

“Infrastructure is a key challenge that we need to tackle together,” said Mr Cowan.

The minister made a plea for a swift resolution to political discussion in the North following the IRA’s recent disarmament.

He said it was his profound hope that the intensified political engagement currently underway would see the earliest possible return of the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly.

“If there was any one act which could most contribute to the development of enhanced economic activity, both within Northern Ireland and between the two parts of the island it is that,” said Mr Cowan.

He said – expressing all due respect to his British counterparts – that he greatly looked forward to the day when the people at the other end of the discussion table were the North's politicians who were accountable to their local electorate, rather than Northern Ireland Office ministers.

It made sense to tackle the economic opportunities and competitiveness challenges on an all-island basis where such collaboration was of benefit to all, he said.

Significant progress had been made towards an all-island energy network, and success through a joint tourism approach, said the minister.

There was need to look at regional development to ensure the island’s road network was “joined up” and of the quality needed in the 21st century.

And Mr Cowan said he did not subscribe to the argument that the huge strides forward made by the Southern economy in the last decade, at the same time as major progress in the peace process in the North, had been a simple matter of coincidence.

“I just do not accept that as being the case. There was no coincidence,” he said.

It would be for the economic experts and the historians to work out the exact scale of inter-connection, said Mr Cowan.

But he added: “Peace and prosperity have been, to coin a phrase, inextricably linked over the last ten years. They will continue to be so going forward.”

That was why it was essential for the best and selfish interests of the South that peace was further bedded down and that the Good Friday Agreement was fully implemented.

“Of course my government want to see those things happen for their own sake - because it is the right thing for our country.

“But it is also in our economic interest.”