REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND MARY McALEESE AT THE NORTH-EAST CHAMBER OF COMMERCE LUNCH
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND MARY McALEESE AT THE NORTH-EAST CHAMBER OF COMMERCE LUNCH, NEWCASTLE
I am very happy to be here with you at the Newcastle Falcons Rugby Club on the 2nd day of my three-day visit to England and Scotland. I am equally pleased to have been invited to address the members of the North-East Chamber of Commerce.
Your focus is the economic future of this region. You want it to be the best it can be. That is what you work and plan for. I hope that through this visit we will see the emergence of even stronger business and trade links between the North East and Ireland for there is already much that we share in common, much to offer each other as we both look ambitiously to a future of sustainable prosperity and opportunity.
We belong to a very fortunate generation, for the complications of history which have so often in the past bedevilled relationships between Ireland and its closest neighbour have begun to mature into a collegial and respectful friendship. We have seen the power of the fresh new relationship at its best in the way the Irish and British Governments have been working consensually and in a very effective partnership to bring lasting peace, equality and justice to Northern Ireland. The robustness of that relationship has been tested through the many ups and downs of the peace process and like the process itself, it has time and again proved to be remarkably strong and enduring. Thirty years of working together as co-equals in the European family of nations have undoubtedly helped straighten out some of history’s tangles but your work is also playing its own invaluable part for political co-operation is always made easier when economic relations are mutually advantageous. Two way annual trade between Ireland and Britain is now valued at over £25bn. Ireland’s overseas trade has diversified so dramatically in recent years that we have been described as the world’s most globalised economy but the UK is still the prime export destination for Irish products and services. The trade flows both ways for Ireland is Britain’s fifth largest export market, and we consume more British goods per capita than any other European country.
Britain is a major source of foreign direct investment in Ireland. In recent years, these investments have been concentrated in high-value-added activities such as biotechnology, financial services, pharmaceuticals and software. One of the primary aims in the Government’s National Development Plan 2000-2006 is to disperse this investment more evenly throughout Ireland, with priority being given to the Border, Midlands and West Region, where the employment and economic needs continue to be greatest. In support of this effort, the Irish Government offers one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the world at 12.5% - an incentive due to last well into the future. As evidence of Ireland’s growing self-confidence and outward-looking approach, Irish companies are now becoming major investors in Britain. In fact, Ireland is now the seventh largest source of inward investment projects into Britain, and ranks fifth in terms of jobs, ahead of such countries as Japan, Italy and Australia. These statistics demonstrate the dynamism and innovation which have come to characterise both the British and Irish corporate sectors.
We also like each other a lot judging by the extent to which we socialise with and visit each other. Last year, in excess of 3.5 million visitors from Britain came to Ireland in order to do business or enjoy our legendary hospitality. Those tourists spent over £1bn during their stay in Ireland and we expect their numbers to increase even further this year. Again the trade is two way for there were over 2 million visits by Irish people to Britain during 2002, and numbers are holding steady this year also.
The North East is very much part of these exciting and two-way developments. Ireland’s most profitable listed company, AIB Bank, now has a major presence serving the business and consumer needs of the people of Newcastle and its environs. The Kerry Group, which is a world leader in the food ingredients and flavours business, has a processing facility in Durham. Ryanair, which has put short-haul and continental air travel within the reach of many millions of passengers, operates a twice-daily and very successful service between the North East and Ireland. The good news does not end there. A new air-link between Teeside and Belfast will be established by BMI next month. Jurys Doyle, Ireland’s largest hotel group, recently opened a 270 bedroom modern hotel facility right in the heart of Newcastle. These are just a number of the most notable and high profile examples of how Irish enterprise can gain substantially from the undoubted potential of the North East. These things link our futures in real and tangible ways. They make us take a deeper interest in each other. They give us a vested interest in and vicarious pride in each other’s successes.
Expansion overseas requires the solid foundations of a vibrant and viable home market. During the period 1993 to 2000, Ireland’s real GNP almost doubled, and in the intervening three years the economy not alone managed to hold these gains but continued to grow by almost 2% per annum - against a background of a slowing and uncertain global environment. The most tangible and welcome result of this exponential growth has been the rise in job numbers - there are now three quarters of a million more people working in Ireland than there were ten years ago. While Ireland like everywhere else felt some of the effects of the recent global downturn we remain reasonably confident that when the world economy rebounds, in parallel Irish economic growth will be of the order of 5% per annum.
A revitalised economic prospect will present all of us with opportunities and those opportunities will challenge us to be competitive, imaginative and organised as never before. The Irish Government is currently engaged in a major programme of infrastructural development - particularly in roads, transport and, most excitingly, in research and development where they recently established a new agency, Science Foundation Ireland. Its primary mission is to augment the national capability in niche areas of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Biotechnology which we believe will be the engines of growth in tomorrow’s global economy. Shared knowledge and partnerships will also play a crucial role in the regional and global economic positioning of Ireland and the North East so Science Foundation Ireland would very much welcome the collaboration of researchers and scientists from the North East in the many exciting programmes which it is pursuing.
It is particularly encouraging that both Newcastle and Dublin are among the new hubs being established throughout Europe in the field of nanotechnology, a sphere where the University of Newcastle already has a formidable edge. Its microsystems and nanotechnology business arm will undoubtedly play a leading role in the commercialisation of nanotechnology in market niches across the continent of Europe and around the world.
You want the North East to be the best it can be. We want the same for Ireland. If Ireland is doing well our suppliers in Britain are doing well and vice versa. May the strenuous efforts of your Chamber be rewarded with many successes and may increased commercial and economic contact between the North East and Ireland be part of tomorrow’s good news.
Thank you.