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MAGINNESS ADDRESSES NEWRY ACTIVISTS ON CROSS BORDER ISSUES SDLP European candidate Alban Maginness MLA said issues such as the economic downturn and cross-border shopping could be usefully tackled by the North South Parliamentary Forum, which should have been convened long ago. Addressing local party activists in Newry on Thursday evening (3rd December) Mr Maginness said: “The North South Forum was a commitment in the Good Friday Agreement and reaffirmed at St Andrews. Working parties have finally been set up, but we need a timeframe so that MLAs and TDs can get together and tackle some of the big issues facing us. “We need a north-south representative body to guide and indeed to motivate the North South Ministerial Council. Social and economic integration between the two parts of this island is actually moving very fast from the bottom up and we need institutions which can keep up and even lead. We haven’t even begun to estimate all the economies of scale that could result from deeper co-operation. "The all-Ireland economy is already a reality in many respects and we need to make sure our approach to banking support dovetails north and south. We are all feeling the pain of the credit crunch, so we need a forum where the futility of a beggar-thy-neighbour approach can be pointed out. The same businesses are employing people making and selling the same Irish goods on both sides of the border. Yet we have a situation which sees Irish ministers calling on Irish people not to shop in certain parts of this island out of a perverse sense of patriotism. That is not right. It is not patriotic to seek to compound the economic harm done to this area by partition. “We also have a very substantial cross-border constituency which is not fully represented – the many thousands of people who cross the border every day to work, do business or avail of a service and sometimes find themselves getting caught in a double web of red tape. From health care to transport to income tax and even using mobile phones, they face particular problems which could be sorted out with a bit of goodwill on both sides. The North South Parliamentary Forum could have a special duty of care towards them. “What we need now are practical measures to help our border people. For example, we should look at the possibility of the first commuter train to Belfast every morning starting from Dundalk and the first Dublin train starting from Newry. We need to see a complete end to mobile phone roaming charges along the border. There is a very strong tradition of enterprise, of independent trading and economic ingenuity along the border which helped overcome many of the disadvantages which partition imposed. I believe we should encourage and foster that spirit today with special support mechanisms for cross-border self-employed and sole traders. And when you get your new bridge at Narrowwater, the North South Parliamentary Forum could look at ways of tapping the enormous tourist potential that will be opened up. “Far
too many important issues have fallen victim to the five-month
Sinn Fein – DUP stand-off. There is now no reason why we
can’t get real movement on the forum within a matter of
months, if they just get their act together.”
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