20 September 2002

Economics.

James Kelly in the subscription only Irish News, is getting fed up with the seemingly endless series of constitutional crises, and suggests that NI Plc is being seriously neglected in all the furore.

"Meantime, out in the real world away from the political hothouse, voices are being heard protesting about the political stranglehold which is choking economic growth here. One such voice is that of Jim Berry, a specialist on planning and development at the University of Ulster.

"He is calling for urgent action on the Belfast-Dublin ‘economic corridor’ which he says has the potential for inward international investment from Europe and beyond. The rail and road connections are a disgrace and, in this day and age, there is not even an air service between the two cities."

Such views echo the idea mooted at the recent US-Ireland business summit, that greater emphasis needs to be put on developing the economic infrastructure of the island as a whole, albeit within the context of European Union.

More: on the economics of the relationship between post-colonial Ireland and Britain. A Maltese perspective on economic regeneration under the EU.

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