The Tanaiste has urged the building of economic bridges between the Republic and Northern Ireland to prevent future bitterness and make a return to violence impossible.

Speaking at a Labour Relations Commission/Labour Relations Agency conference in Co Cavan yesterday, Ms Harney said the Belfast Agreement identified a range of areas in which co-operation and implementation of mutual benefit may take place, including agriculture, transport and tourism. "Cross-Border co-operation and cross-Border trade can pave the way, in both parts of this island, for increased output, increased employment and increased prosperity. It is a game in which both sides can be winners."

The conference, Managing people, managing change, is the first joint venture between the Republic's Labour Relations Commission (LRC) and the Northern Ireland Labour Relations Agency (LRA) since the Agreement. Ms Harney said there was a need to build on such joint initiatives to ensure that industrial relations processes and institutions were capable of meeting the scale, rhythm and complexity of change that companies face. "The companies on both sides of the Border which are the clients of these industrial relations bodies share some common problems and there is much that is similar in the LRA and the LRC approach to these problems."