ANALYSIS:BRIAN COWEN and
Peter Robinson met in Belfast yesterday for some hardnosed business
dealing that should benefit Northern Ireland but is not without
risk to the Republic's economy, writes
GERRY MORIARTY.
Cowen, in a concrete example of cross-Border co-operation, was offering his Northern counterpart Robinson a slice of the South's financial services sector cake that could create thousands of jobs in the North - without any guarantee of a hard-edged economic return for the Republic.
Cowen and Robinson were at the Belfast Science Park to announce a deal whereby companies operating in the tax-friendly financial services sector in the Republic can outsource some of their work to Northern Ireland to the mutual benefit - so said the two finance ministers - of our neighbouring jurisdictions.
It was all "Peter" and "Brian" at the Cowen and Robinson press conference in the Titanic dockland area yesterday.
But behind the handshakes and first names nature of this encounter it was very clear that North-South politics is moving on from the "Bertie" and "Ian" relationship struck up by Bertie Ahern and Ian Paisley.
The leaders-in-waiting were friendly and courteous to each other but there was none of the personal warmth that the outgoing Taoiseach and First Minister exuded when together, at least in the past year.
Cowen and Robinson were meeting for the first time as leaders designate. An hour or so earlier the DUP Assembly team unanimously elected Robinson as DUP leader designate, and he will take over as party leader - and first minister - when Paisley formally resigns these positions next month or in June.
Cowen crossed the Border with something constructive to offer the prospective first minister. Both he and Robinson described the proposal as a "win-win" business arrangement.
As they and their officials outlined it, there is a skills deficit in the Republic while there is a skills surplus in the North. The problem is that the financial sector in the Republic is suffering because of an absence of well-educated recruits. Officials said that this was also undermining the competitiveness of the sector.
"You have situations where one graduate is employed by a particular company at, say, €40,000 per annum only to be poached by another financial services company at €50,000 per annum," explained one official.
According to Robinson, the Republic's financial services sector needs to recruit 9,000 graduate economists, accountants and lawyers but can't find them in the South.
Northern Ireland has these graduates, either based in the North, or over in Britain waiting for an opportunity to return home to the North to a reasonably well paid job.
He stressed he wasn't anticipating that all these jobs would be filled through companies setting up additional offices in the North, but nonetheless he expected that it could create some thousands of jobs.
Financial analysts say it could lead to between 3,000 and 5,000 jobs.
What is additionally critical here for the North, which has a current dependency on low-paid jobs - call centres and such like - is that these posts would be relatively well paid.
The hope is that this development could be a springboard to a high-paid economy in Northern Ireland.
"I believe this initiative has the potential of being perhaps the most significant in terms of employment potential in Northern Ireland for decades. I enthusiastically welcome it," said Robinson.
"It is a major boost for business on both sides of the Border. It demonstrates how practical co-operation can lead to the benefit of the two economies. . . it can be a win-win result for our two economies."
Cowen said that "this particular first initiative indicates the seriousness of our intentions", although he added that he could not estimate how many jobs it would create in the North.
He said the arrangement would not require new legislation. Neither would it cause problems with the European Union, he was sure, or cause tax complications. "What we are saying is that under present legislative arrangements, on a case by case basis, the financial regulator has confirmed that we can do this," said Cowen.
So, on a day when they both had sight of the top posts that await them, Cowen and Robinson were able to enact real business in a pragmatic, workmanlike manner reflective of their political personalities - if perhaps lacking the aplomb of how Paisley and Ahern might have announced the initiative.
Thus, they were demonstrating their commitment to practical North-South co-operation - just what is needed in the new dispensation.
It was a propitious start to the Cowen-Robinson leadership relationship therefore, that should also bode well for the overall relationship between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
Still, as he travelled home yesterday, Cowen must have felt a slight element of apprehension about this experiment that is taking place in the face of a global economic downturn.
There are no risks in this for Robinson but there are for the future taoiseach if the well-paid jobs start drying up South of the Border.
But there would have been no progress in the peace process without risk-taking. One more is surely worth taking.