Dr Martin Naughton, chairman of the cross-Border trade and business development implementation body, is barely a week in his new job, but already faces a crisis. The storm clouds surrounding decommissioning threaten to suspend the Northern Ireland Executive and stop the 12-member trade body in its tracks.
However, although he admits "disappointment" at the current turn of events, Dr Naughton is keen to move quickly and focus on generating business solutions.
"I'm not a politician, I am a businessman and we will come up with business solutions," says Dr Naughton. "In our body we are given the job of focusing on the economy and how the two economies can work together to help each other."
The trade body's function will be to commission research studies and formulate policy proposals for consideration by the North-South Council of Ministers. At last week's inaugural meeting in Newry, the council agreed to pinpoint the areas of cross-Border trade, training, building supply chains and developing e-commerce as priorities.
But an essential role for the body will be to act as a "catalyst for bringing people together", says Dr Naughton.
"The Troubles and all that went with it for over a quarter of a century meant Southern businesses ignored the North as a market because they were worried about sending people up there," he says.
Only 6 per cent of trade is currently undertaken between North and South, a very small amount considering Northern Ireland and the Republic are neighbours. Raising awareness of the potential opportunities will be an important role for the body, according to Dr Naughton.
"You have to tell people in the South there is a market of one and half million people up there, and to people in the North there are three and half million people here and the economy is growing like hell," he says. "We have to put the facts in front of them as best we can and then put the opportunities to them."
Dr Naughton grew up in Dundalk and set up in business in 1973 in Newry, during some of the most violent times in Northern Ireland. Nevertheless, he developed Glen Dimplex to a £650 million (€825 million) per year turnover with operations in 18 countries worldwide.
With three factories in Northern Ireland, plants in the Republic and through his membership for the past four years of the board of the Industrial Development Board in the North, he is keenly aware of the wedge which violence caused. But attitudes are changing, he says.
There is a tremendous amount of goodwill in the South towards Northern Ireland and a new awareness of the Southern economy in the North, says Dr Naughton.
"A lot of people in the North felt the progress the Southern economy was making was all to do with some sleight of hand around EU funds, it was a backward economy and there was no point in getting involved in it," he says.
"Slowly it began to dawn on people that it was a bit more than that and now business people from the North see the opportunity there and want to find ways of working together."
This process of further educating businesses on opportunities on either side of the Border will be central to the body's work. Business road shows will traverse the island, says Dr Naughton, and the council is working on ways to set up structures to facilitate speedy business introductions between potential partners North and South.
Joint partnerships will be encouraged and a fast-tracked study to examine the best way of establishing a new equity fund is already under way. It is due for completion within three months.
"It's about how to advise government about what's necessary, about providing the capital for start-up situations, supporting particularly high-tech businesses and people who want to spin off and set up their own business," says Dr Naughton.
The council will play an advisory role in promoting enhanced cross-Border co-operation in education and training. "Training, skilling people and out-placing people are top of the agenda," says Dr Naughton. As a trustee of Notre Dame College in the US, he has an interest in promoting international educational ties between the US and the Republic.
These types of corporate or education placements should be established between North and South to enable graduates and potential leaders to gain experience and knowledge about the other part of the island's economy, he argues.
The Border areas will be a special focus for the group and are "now open for business", says Dr Naughton. The Troubles have had a particularly adverse effect on these areas, which have been cut off from their natural economic hinterlands and had investment diverted, he says.
The strength of sterling and the lower corporation tax in the Republic are essentially political issues and need to be dealt with at Westminster, says Dr Naughton. However, the council will try to be innovative and may propose setting up pilot tax schemes in certain areas in Northern Ireland, he adds.
"If we think it makes good business sense then we would propose it to the council," he says.
The 12-member board of the council reflects a wide cross-section of political, economic and social groups, including trade unionists and journalists as well as business figures. Dr Naughton believes this input is "useful".
"As chairman I hope to let everyone have their say and listen to everyone's opinion and then we have to get consensus. Hopefully, our decisions will be unanimous," he says.
The challenge in the short term, though, is to keep the body focused on generating practical business solutions at a time of heightened political uncertainty. Aware of the realities of the political situation, Dr Naughton is not downbeat, but stresses everyone's responsibility to help create the conditions for peace.
"I would appeal very strongly to every business person in Ireland to play their part in deciding how can they help the process," says Dr Naughton. "Things don't happen, people make things happen and the easiest thing in life is for any of us to do nothing rather than to do something positive."
