Dr. Seamus McGuinness:

We talk about a 40% gap in productivity levels between the North and the South. They were equal 20 years ago. Even if the southern economy had not grown at all, that gap would be 30%. The gap is being driven by falling productivity in the North, and that is related to lots of different things, particularly the quality of jobs being produced. It is therefore not controversial to state that the Northern Ireland economy is underperforming and that there is substantial scope for productivity gains, given the right investment and the right policy framework.