Northern Ireland's economy badly needs renewal after decades of relative stagnation. It has a major opportunity to accomplish this now that the powersharing Executive is installed and operating so effectively, with goodwill from the Republic, the rest of the UK, the European Union and the United States.
Good ideas about how best to go about this task are essential at this stage, preferably from people who are actively involved.
A real lead has been given in this respect by Dr Alan Gillespie, chairman of the Ulster Bank Group. Writing in this newspaper he has argued that Northern Ireland should be marketed internationally by a new all-Ireland body formed by amalgamating the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) and its counterpart Invest Northern Ireland. This is the core proposal in a comprehensive package of reforms he puts forward for discussion. He acknowledges that a mature economy is not based only on foreign direct investment, since it must be founded on thriving small and medium-sized existing businesses, a broad level of competitiveness, a strong entrepreneurial culture and a sweeping renewal of its public sector. But attracting multinationals is critical to the success of these reforms. As he puts it, "these globally distributed, high value-added companies bring investment, employment, management skills, best practice, value added exports and income growth".
Dr Gillespie insists an amalgamated North-South investment agency would be neither a big concession by the Republic, since it would stimulate all-Ireland growth, nor a big give-up for unionists, since it would not compromise UK sovereignty. Several unionists disagreed with him yesterday, although others in Northern Ireland welcomed his plan. It deserves thorough discussion and considered support, although it would be foolish to underestimate the potential obstacles in its way.
Not the least of these might come from those in the Republic keen to do what they can to help Northern Ireland, but who would have to be convinced that pooling the search for investment would not disadvantage existing benefits flowing from the world-class IDA during an economic slowdown. Yesterday's news that the Amgen pharmaceutical development is not to go ahead in Cork illustrates some of the difficulties involved; Aer Lingus's decision to transfer Heathrow slots from Shannon to Belfast is among several others.
It will take firm political leadership to drive forward plans for economic renewal on an all-Ireland basis and to demonstrate that this would be mutually beneficial and without hidden political agendas. The two jurisdictions have a great deal to gain from such North-South synergies. But prolonged separation after partition and highly uneven development over recent decades have made them different places with diverse interests. We will have to learn afresh how to work together. We should not underestimate the challenges and the certain benefits of doing so.