Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The comments in the British command paper prior to the restoration of the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Executive and the North-South Ministerial Council were particularly negative in regard to the all-Ireland economy. Regardless of what British public servants or politicians think, the all-Ireland economy exists, is growing and is being strengthened every day, thankfully, for the benefit of the people throughout this island.

To take one statistic, between 1998, the time of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, and 2022, cross-Border trade in goods and services increased threefold to well in excess of €11 billion. I note that the figure for 2023 is higher again. We welcome that development because a particularly important element of cross-Border trade is its significance to small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs. We all know that for many SMEs, their first export market is to the neighbouring jurisdiction, North to South and South to North. The Taoiseach has heard me speak in this House on many occasions about the importance of cross-Border trade for areas like Cavan, Monaghan, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Armagh. This area is thankfully particularly strong in the agrifood sector, construction products and engineering, and it also has a growing tourism industry.

I have mentioned this previously and I would like the Taoiseach's Department and NESC to have a look at it. I refer to the particular challenges and opportunities for the central Border region. We all know that the more densely populated urban centres on the Dublin-Belfast line will grow despite whatever economic challenges arise. We need to prepare and grasp the opportunities and deal with the challenges that will affect the central Border region area.

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