Sir, – The recent sharp decline in the value of sterling has generated stories of shoppers flocking over the Border to take advantage of cheaper prices in Northern Ireland. The real story, however, is rather one of retailers “down south” refusing to lower their prices in recognition of the fact that a lot, if not the majority, of the goods they sell are sourced from the UK and hence are now costing them less. Leaving aside the odd percentage differences in VAT, market forces should mean that in theory it should not matter which side of the Border you buy goods from. What matters is that UK manufacturers are becoming more cost-competitive versus their Irish counterparts, which will be bad news in the longer term for employment prospects in Ireland. – Yours, etc,
RA BLACKBURN,
Naul, Co Dublin.