So we just have to be smart. Apparently.

We are assured that technology will fix our borders (quite often by certain politicians, actually).  All we need are CCTV cameras at the border and no checks will be required according to a a report by Lars Karlsson, President of KGH Border Services, Former Director of World Customs Organization and Deputy Director General of Swedish Customs, so we are told by the DUP. Indeed, that’s what the Abstract says: This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ …

Read more…

UK exports have boomed since the Brexit referendum, but mostly to the EU

In the immediate aftermath of the referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union on the 23rd of June 2016, the pound fell sharply against other major currencies. At the time of writing, £1 will buy €1.19 or 1.25 US dollars, down 8.5% and 14.7% respectively $1.47 and €1.30 on the eve of the referendum. It has been claimed by various sources that a fall in the pound, whilst obviously bad news for importers and holidaymakers, will prove a …

Read more…

Beijing accounts for just 1% of FDI in Europe so Ireland will have to wait…

Nice observation from Simon Carswell in his Bottom Line column today in the Irish Times, regarding the recent high level visit of the putative leader of the Peoples Republic of China. …these visits really only suggest the potential that exists. China accounts for just 3 per cent of exports and most of that is dairy products, notably infant milk formula. UCD economist Colm McCarthy pointed out that Ireland exported the same amount of merchandise to China last year as it …

Read more…

What’s bad for Britain is also bad for Ireland…

Dan O’Brien points out that if things are bad on John Bull’s Island, it’s not going to be good on his old cast off either… If the importance of Ireland for the United Kingdom’s prosperity tends to be underestimated across the water; on this side of the Irish Sea the hulking presence of the behemoth next door prevents any blindness to the enormous importance of bilateral economic relations. The UK is Ireland’s largest trading partner. The labour markets of the …

Read more…