Northern Ireland’s business development agency Invest NI has opened a new Dublin hub in a bid to attract more investment from the South.
The agency, which recently opened similar hubs in London and Brussels, is aiming to exploit the North’s unique post-Brexit position of having dual access to the EU and UK markets for goods.
According to Invest NI’s executive director for international and skills Steve Harper, the new Dublin location will afford the agency a bigger space to exhibit and host seminars while providing “a strategic meeting space for Northern Ireland companies and stakeholders” wishing to scope export opportunities in the South.
The new premises, located on City Quay in Dublin’s docklands, will also house Tourism NI’s southern office.
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Mr Harper said the Republic was the second largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) for the North, eclipsed only by the US, but ahead of the internal investment coming from Britain.
Approximately 180 Irish-owned businesses, including Kingspan, Kerry and O’Neill’s Sportswear, have invested more than €800 million in the North since 2002, an investment that underpins more than 4,500 jobs.
Mr Harper acknowledged there were political sensitivities regarding Northern Ireland’s in-out trading position with the EU. “But where it is an advantage we will absolutely seek to promote that,” he said.
“We’re seeing companies in Northern Ireland take advantage of that dual market access but we’re also seeing interest from Irish companies which have a lot of trade with the UK,” he said.
On the disparity between corporate tax rates in the Republic and Northern Ireland, Mr Harper said: “Typically we’ve been attracting cost centres [from the financial and insurance sectors] to Northern Ireland which are servicing other markets ... corporation tax doesn’t really come into the equation,” he said.
“If we really wanted to pivot and go after profit centres, then yes it [corporation tax] is one of those factors,” he said.
The UK’s headline corporate tax rate is 25 per cent versus 12.5 per cent (15 per cent for big multinationals) in the Republic. “Would it help us to have a lower corporation tax, of course it would be another string in our bow,” Mr Harper said.
Northern Ireland’s economy minister Conor Murphy was in Dublin on Wednesday to open the new premises.
“More and more companies are operating in, and establishing footprints in, both parts of the island,” Mr Murphy said, noting cross-Border trade has grown by 125 per cent since 2018, reaching more than €10 billion in 2023.
“Supply chains and clusters are increasingly all-Ireland in nature. Cross-Border tourism has also surged over the last few years, with latest figures showing an unprecedented number of visitors from the South in 2023,” he said.
Invest NI’s chief executive Kieran Donoghue said: “With dual market access as an added string to Northern Ireland’s bow, our hub will provide a great base from which to highlight the North’s unique trading position into GB and EU markets.”
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