Crosscurrents

1 primary work

Can the Celtic Tiger Cross the Irish Border?

by John Bradley and Esmond Birnie

Published 1 January 2001

One of the Republic's outstanding economists, John Bradley, and the prominent Unionist politician and economist, Esmond Birnie, debate to what extent Northern Ireland can learn from the phenomenon of the Celtic Tiger. Professor Bradley asks what lessons the North can take from the success of the Republic's economic planning, and whether it makes sense for the island to trade and seek investment as one unit in a globalized economy. Dr Birnie wonders whether the low level of trade and economic interchange between the two Irish economies is really abnormal in European terms, and whether a successfully co-ordinated island economy is possible in two separate political jurisdictions.