Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 23 May 2024
Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement
All-Island Economy: Discussion (Resumed)
Dr. Adele Bergin:
I think I said if there was low-hanging fruit. We already talked quite a lot about education and the areas of the education sector we might want to look at. On industrial policy, it is about reorienting FDI policy in the North towards higher value, higher quality jobs and higher value-added sectors. At the moment in Northern Ireland there is higher FDI intensity in areas like construction and distribution, whereas in the South there is a higher FDI concentration in financial services and that kind of thing, which also tend to be better quality, higher-paying jobs. I do not know how long it takes to reorient policy but to the extent that one can have an FDI policy focusing on certain niche sectors, perhaps that could be done quickly.
No comments