FROM THE ARCHIVES:The economic cost to the Republic of the Northern Troubles became apparent in 1972 after Bloody Sunday in Derry and the subsequent burning of the British embassy in Dublin, as this contemporary report illustrated.
NINE INDUSTRIAL projects for this country, which would employ 1,000 people, have been postponed as a direct result of the burning of the British Embassy in Dublin on February 2nd. This was announced at a press conference yesterday by the managing director of the Industrial Development Authority, Mr. Michael J. Killeen.
Yesterday also the Minister for Transport and Power, Mr. [Brian] Lenihan, told the Dail that 18 international conferences and visits, involving an estimated 12,000 delegates, have already been cancelled for this year.
These figures are the first sign of serious economic pressures on the Republic stemming from the Northern Ireland troubles. There were heralded by the cancellation of the Scots and Welsh rugby matches scheduled for Dublin on February 26th and March 11th.
The Scots cancellation cost the Irish Rugby Football Union £30,000 and the Welsh £65,000, but the direct cost to the tourist industry is conservatively estimated at £100,000 for the Welsh match alone.
The most damaging aspect of all, and one which is quite incalculable, will have been the publicity these cancellations received . . .
At the I.D.A. press conference yesterday, Mr Killeen said that the nine postponed projects were mostly non-British. He said that other projects under consideration at the moment involved a possible 12,000 jobs, and warned of a “serious” situation if the political position in this country deteriorated further.
Mr. Killeen told The Irish Times last night that the I.D.A. was at present working on the job of convincing these nine companies that the situation was stable in Ireland and persuading these people that they could invest in Ireland without any undue risk.
He said the postponement of the nine projects would not affect Ireland in the short term, as they had already programmed for 8,000 to 9,000 new jobs this year. However, if these industries did not come here the effects would show in the year 1973-74. “That is really the significance of the delay in carrying out these projects,” he said.
If the situation continued to deteriorate and if there was some form of boycott of Irish goods by the British there could be difficulties, since 65% of our total exports go to Britain. “However, there is no evidence of this at present,” he said . . .
Of the nine projects postponed, most were from the Continent and the U.S.
Referring to our recent bad publicity abroad, Mr. Killeen said: “The burning of the British embassy had particular significance. The Americans regard embassies as symbols of stability. They could not believe it when an embassy was burned in a peaceful country like Ireland.”