Planning a Dublin–Belfast Economic Corridor: Networks, engagement and creating opportunities

Cross-border cooperation on the island of Ireland has a long history, if often a limited scope. The emergence of statutory North/South bodies after the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement of 1998 added a new dynamic. This paper argues that the further development of the Dublin–Belfast Economic Corridor will require key stakeholders to engage widely, not only with a private sector whose rationale will be greater levels of commercial activity along the Corridor but also with others who will bring additional agendas into discussion, including sustainability and quality of life. Political engagement will also be critical to ensure that the top-down support, in terms of investment and alignment with other policy priorities, is present. The framework for this collaboration is already in place, something that was absent in the 1990s

A sense of proportion in crossborder shopping: what the most recent statistics show

Since late 2008 the issue of cross-border shopping has been a favourite topic of media interest and speculation. Stories emerged around Christmas 2008 about ASDA in Enniskillen being the sixth top performing store in the global Wal-Mart chain worldwide.1 Around the same time Irish Minister of Finance, Brian Lenihan, made the comment that ‘people should do their patriotic duty’ and shop locally rather than across the border.2 The response from the retail industry lobby groups, North and South, has fed the story. One claim was that every 150 cross-border trips costs one retail job in Ireland. Contestable, headline grabbing statements such as ‘British shops’ war on Irish’, and ‘Shoppers going North are not traitors’ fuelled misguided perceptions.3 Unfortunately, much of what has been written is based on an imprecise extrapolation from small sample-based surveys and anecdotal evidence from shop owners. In the absence of robust statistics, a sense of perspective on cross-border shopping was in danger of being lost

Planning a Dublin–Belfast Economic Corridor: Networks, engagement and creating opportunities

Cross-border cooperation on the island of Ireland has a long history, if often a limited scope. The emergence of statutory North/South bodies after the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement of 1998 added a new dynamic. This paper argues that the further development of the Dublin–Belfast Economic Corridor will require key stakeholders to engage widely, not only with a private sector whose rationale will be greater levels of commercial activity along the Corridor but also with others who will bring additional agendas into discussion, including sustainability and quality of life. Political engagement will also be critical to ensure that the top-down support, in terms of investment and alignment with other policy priorities, is present. The framework for this collaboration is already in place, something that was absent in the 1990s

Writing in Britain and Ireland, c. 400 to c. 800

No abstract available

Funding support for cross-border and north-south cooperation on the island of Ireland, 1982-2005 : an overview

Revised version of a paper presented at final conference of the Mapping frontiers, plotting pathways: routes to North-South cooperation in a divided island programme, City Hotel, Armagh, 19-20 January 2006.This paper provides a brief outline of the findings of the much larger mapping study of funding support for cross-border cooperation which is based on Border Ireland and has been written as part of the wider Mapping Frontiers, Plotting Pathways project. It details the scope of the mapping study, some elements of the funding programmes and ideas about future mapping of cross-border cooperation. The paper finishes with some conclusions about the end of one phase of funding support and where cross-border cooperation may get support from in future.Not applicableti sp se - 100707 RB

Peace and the private sector: Northern Ireland’s regional experience of globalised trends

Chapter nine explores the role of NGOs in assessing business and the private sector in promoting peace in Northern Ireland. Analyses of Northern Ireland’s peace process tend to concentrate on the public or non-profit sector. The role of the private sector has been more or less ignored. The lack of scholarly focus may reflect the traditional gap in comprehension and cooperation between business and peace. This, however, is changing. Liberal IR assumptions about the spillover effects of economic development have morphed into analysis of the potential for globalisation to improve international connections, thus making the recourse to violence less likely. At a sub-state level, the same liberal premises are present in the concept of business-based peacebuilding, which identifies a natural complementarity between the objectives of private sector actors and the maintenance of a stable, sustainable peace.</p

The impact of devolution on everyday life, 1999-2009 : the case of crossborder commerce

Paper presented at the conference, “The Impact of Devolution on Everyday Life: 1999-2009”, Newman House, Dublin, 6 February 2009This paper examines the impact of cross-border cooperation on everyday life in an era of devolution since 1999. The argument is made that the island of Ireland has moved from the process of fracture and friction that Conor Brady memorably described for the period after 1920 into a more cooperative relationship between North and South. The paper details the work of the North-South institutions since 1999 with a particular emphasis on the work of InterTradeIreland. At the everyday level it draws on statistical sources to reflect on developments within areas such as cross-border tourism, trade and student flows. In each it can be seen as a case of “some work done, more to do”.Not applicableti ke SB. 29/7/1