BUSINESS BREAKFAST:IRELAND AND Britain must "be in the vanguard" to ensure that the EU agrees free trade deals with India and other rapidly emerging markets and cuts cumbersome regulations facing business, British foreign secretary William Hague has said.
The British government wants to capitalise on improving links with Ireland capped by the Queen’s visit, Mr Hague said. The momentum created by the four-day visit offered “a real opportunity for both our countries. That means commerce and business.
“That is the only way that the jobs and opportunities of future years are going to be created. They are not going to come from government spending in any part of Europe,” he told a business breakfast in UCD yesterday.
The success to date of the Queen’s visit “reflects the good relationship between the Irish and British governments, the enormous business and family ties between our countries” and “the tremendous progress made in Northern Ireland”.
Acknowledging that tourist numbers travelling in both directions between Ireland and Britain had fallen, Mr Hague said he hoped they would now improve.
“The average spend by an English rugby supporter is £1,000, win or lose, apparently,” he said jokingly.
The breakfast, which was attended by hundreds of business people, was co-organised by Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, Bord Bia, Tourism Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland and Fáilte Ireland under the “Innovation Ireland” umbrella.
Illustrating the deep economic links between Ireland and Britain, Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore said: “The UK is the third-largest investor in Ireland; Ireland is the third-largest European investor in the UK,” while “every man, woman and child in Ireland spends an average of £3,600 a year on British goods”.
The £3.8 billion loan which the British government “generously agreed to provide” was greatly appreciated in Ireland, Mr Gilmore added, “because it gives us the space we need to put in place strong policy measures in the face of the financial crisis”.
Pointing to the British support for Ireland’s right to keep its 12.5 per cent corporation tax rate, Mr Gilmore said: “It is reassuring that even on a bright morning like this, there is no daylight between us when it comes to respecting the right of individual states to set their own rates of corporation tax.”
Since the signing of the Belfast Agreement, Britain and Ireland have achieved many successes, “but there remains significant potential for more to be achieved”.
Co-operation on infrastructure and shared health and education services were all possible, Mr Gilmore added, while Britain and Ireland’s history as trading nations “underpins our special relationship”.
“Business does not recognise borders and cannot afford to bear grudges or hold on to historical prejudices,” he said.
