Sir, – My eyes widened when they first saw “North Atlantic Isles” over a letter from Dermot C Clarke (May 18th).
At the recent “Irish Day” on the London Stock Exchange I gave a brief outline of just such an idea in the group discussions that took place following the opening ceremonies. Call it the “North Atlantic Isles” or the “North Atlantic Corridor”, it is all the same.
The islands of Ireland, Britain, Isle of Man, the Faroes, over to Iceland and then to Greenland (under home rule from Denmark) could be an interesting economic bloc.
The “Real Map of Ireland” shows Ireland’s marine territory of more than 220 million acres, which is 10 times the size of the island of Ireland. The Northern Corridor or North Atlantic Isles is Europe’s last frontier, potentially rich in oil, gas and food in the fisheries. What is more, Ireland has two of the best warm water ports servicing the Northern corridor in Shannon and Derry.
Just as important as the riches in natural resources, a grouping of Northern isles that choose to, could have their own currency and monetary policies not dominated by the economic and cultures of central Europe. – Yours, etc,
EMMETT O’CONNELL,
Foulksmills,
Co Wexford.