Keynote address by Tánaiste at the British-Irish Chamber of Commerce Conference 2023

Conference title: ‘The Power of Partnership – Unleashing the Potential of British-Irish Trade & Investment’

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Thanks to Director General John McGrane, President Jeanne Kelly and all at British Irish Chamber of Commerce for inviting me to join you today.

Good afternoon all.

Before I start, I’d just like to take a moment to reflect on what has been a cataclysmic week in the Middle East.

Like all of you, I was horrified by the scenes we witnessed in the brutal and senseless attack on Israel last weekend.

It was with immense sadness that I learned yesterday evening that the death of Kim Damti in that attack was confirmed. My thoughts are with her family in Israel and here in Ireland. Their loss is our loss. I am conscious too of all the families touched by loss in the horrible violence this week, all of whom are in our hearts.

People all over the world have been shocked and disturbed by the barbarity of what we have witnessed, which has unleashed new cycles of horror on innocent people in Gaza and in Israel.

All week, I have been working with EU and international partners. I have spoken to many of my counterparts, including the Palestinian Foreign Minister, to discuss how this crisis can be addressed, and to inform what constructive role Ireland might be able to play.

It is obviously very difficult in the current context. As I look to the future, I think there is a collective moral and political obligation to chart a way. It is essential that we work towards a day in which terrible events such as those we saw this week cannot be repeated, and people throughout the Middle East can live in peace.

A chairde,

Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil libh as ucht bhur gcuireadh a bheith anseo inniu. Is ócáid rí-thábhachtach í.

Is léir go bhfuil agus go mbeidh ról lárnach le himirt ag cursaí tráchtála, trádála agus gnó i láidriú na gcaidreamh idir Éirinn agus an Ríocht Aontaithe. Is mór an phléisiúr dom é mar sin de a bheith libh san ionad comhdhála nua agus galánta seo i gcroílár Bhaile Átha Cliath.

I want to commend all of the team at the British Irish Chamber of Commerce for today’s programme and for bringing together such an influential group from across these islands.

We gather in this fantastic new facility, the Dublin Royal Convention Centre, situated in a location dating back to the establishment of Dublin where people came to encounter each other in commerce and to make things happen. What better place in which to discuss the potential inherent in our British Irish partnership.

From the outset, I want to acknowledge the realities of recent years. When it comes to the British Irish relationship, specifically, I don’t think that anyone in this room will disagree with me when I say these past few years have posed many challenges, particularly in the wake of the Brexit referendum.

While we in Ireland have always been clear about the importance of recognising and respecting the will of the British people, we have also been clear about the unique and significant challenges that that decision has posed – and continues to pose - for the multi-faceted connections between us, in particular but not exclusively for Northern Ireland.

As business leaders, you have played a vitally important role in mitigating and managing the outworkings of Brexit. That is – and continues to be – vitally important.

For at its heart, Ireland is a trading nation. As an open and international economy, our success in trading goods and services has been a key element of our economic resilience and our success.

As a government, we do not take this for granted. We rely on, and support, a rules based order which allows our open economy to trade globally.

Perhaps the clearest expression of our openness within a rules-based order is Ireland’s membership of the EU single market, which has underpinned much of our economic development since the 1990s.

But the first full expression of Ireland’s commitment to free trade was perhaps the Anglo-Irish Free Trade Agreement of 1965, part of the Lemass-Whitaker reforms which modernised the Irish economy. The preamble to that Agreement places it within a shared desire for the harmonious expansion of world trade through the removal of barriers, and continuing progress forward towards European economic cooperation.

However, the fact is that, as economist Kevin O’Rourke has observed, for much of the time since 1965 Irish trade liberalisation remained focused on the economic relationship with Great Britain, even if much more diversified.

The numbers are impressive: prior to the Second World War, nearly all Irish exports went to the UK. 61% of exports went the UK just before we together joined the European Union. In recent years, our Irish goods exports to the UK stand at 11% and 14% for services. These figures reflect two things.

Firstly, overall Irish trade is so much bigger than it was fifty years ago: Ireland trades globally very successfully and has grown new markets. Secondly, our trading relationship with the United Kingdom remains very significant.

It makes sense, of course, for us to trade with, to invest in, the 6th biggest economy in the world – our nearest neighbour, the UK.

And it makes sense for British companies to trade and invest in Ireland. That’s why last year, Ireland was the UK’s 6th largest trading partner, and 4th largest export market. Put simply, the UK sells more to Ireland than it does to China and India combined!

For most Irish businesses thinking about exporting, the UK market is the natural choice. 4 out of 5 Irish businesses are doing business in the UK.

Ireland is also a significant source of UK foreign direct investment, and many British companies are of course important investors here.

It is a wide-ranging, strong and deep relationship. The energy, relevance and strength of this Chamber of Commerce is one of the clearest testaments to that fact. In saying this, I am also conscious of the energy and time which so many Chamber members have invested in recent years navigating the changes to their business model predicated by Brexit.

Having said that, I’m sure you will also agree that there is, in spite of the challenges we face, potential for so much more.

I want to be clear this afternoon that as a government we not only recognise that potential, but that realising it is one of our strategic priorities.

It’s why we are investing heavily in expanding our presence in Great Britain.

An increasing range of government departments and State agencies are based in London, including the IDA, Enterprise Ireland, Bord Bia, and Tourism Ireland.

It’s why the government agreed earlier this year with my department’s proposal to establish an “Ireland House” in London.

Over the coming years, we will position our Embassy – Ireland’s largest in a single city anywhere in the world - to operate together with our state agencies in a new location, under one roof in central London. This is a manifestation of our ambitions for the Ireland - UK relationship in the 21st century.

It’s an ambition that I know is shared by you as a community of investors, businesses and employers.

Ireland’s relations with all parts of Britain have deep roots, in history, of course, but also in business and trade. Most importantly, our relations are rooted in the day-to-day connections between our people.

These connections are the foundation for the work not only of our Embassy in London but also of our Consulates in Manchester, Cardiff and Edinburgh.

Further strengthening those connections is a priority, with Scotland, with Wales, with the North of England, and with the UK as a whole.

One area where we are exploring the potential of closer cooperation with the UK is in the area of energy. We both face similar challenges.

How do we best cooperate as we seek to decarbonise our economies and pursue Net Zero? How can we learn lessons from our efforts to develop offshore renewables and other clean energy technologies?

These are significant questions. They are questions, I know, that were also to the fore in the recent visit by the British Irish Chamber of Commerce to the Tees Valley, joined by Ireland’s Consul General for the North of England.

An important initiative - collaborating practically to explore potential!

Next week, I will be in Bangor in Wales for the annual Ireland Wales Forum. This is a significant chance to engage with the Welsh Government.

There are shared opportunities in renewable energy for us to explore, policy perspectives in terms of skills development for us to exchange, and learnings on language policy for us to discuss.

During this busy programme, I’m also very much looking forward to meeting Irish and Welsh businesses.

In all of this work, developing a positive relationship between the UK and the EU remains in our fundamental interest.

The agreement on the Windsor Framework earlier this year was a significant moment, stabilising Northern Ireland’s place in the EU single market and the UK internal market, and marking a major improvement in the UK / EU relationship.

I would like to take this chance to publicly acknowledge the role played by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton Harris, in that process – you’ll hear from Chris later.

I would also like to pay tribute to the steadfast and always patient leadership shown on the EU side by Maroš Šefčovič. Maroš would be the first to say that he benefited greatly from his engagement with business leaders on the island of Ireland in bringing this to a resolution, and I know that all of you would join me in thanking him for his patience and his friendship.

With implementation of the Framework progressing, EU UK relations are clearly on a positive trajectory and this has unlocked progress on some important opportunities.

The most obvious is the recent agreement, in principle, on the UK re-joining the Horizon Europe and Copernicus programme. I am very pleased about this and I believe partnership within Horizon opens real potential.

Potential for European, Irish and British scientists and researchers.

Potential to bring collective expertise to work in an effort to tackle global issues.

Reflecting on education and research, it is timely here to recall the enormous contribution of Chuck Feeney.

Chuck, as you know, passed this week. He leaves us with an extraordinary legacy. His support for education and for reconciliation projects delivered enduring impact for generations to come.

I had the great pleasure and privilege of working directly with Chuck on the development of the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions, transforming the research sector in this country.

One way I think we can honour his memory is by continuing to foster cooperation between education institutions, north and south, east and west.

Coming back to the Windsor Framework –importantly, and away from the politics, it ensures that all those who live on this island have the opportunity to benefit from an accessible and growing all-island economy.

Today, cross-border trade is worth nearly €10 billion, almost three times what it was in 1998.

The economic dividends of the peace process have done so much across this island. They have lifted whole communities, strengthened existing value chains and created new ones.

The commercial reality is that investing anywhere on this island, north or south, generates substantive knock-on all across the island.

That trade has the potential to grow further and faster, to the benefit of all communities, north and south. We have, let’s not forget, an all-island consumer market of almost seven million people, and a larger collective labour pool than countries like Denmark, Finland and Norway.

As I have said many times, investment anywhere on the island benefits all on this island. Increased economic prosperity, North or South, can only improve the lives of everyone, allowing greater headroom for investments in building a truly reconciled island.

The government’s Shared Island Initiative, which I established when I became Taoiseach, is a contribution to reconciliation, through an emphasis on enhanced cooperation, investment, research, and strengthened relationships across this island.

The potential to work with the Executive in Northern Ireland, and the British government, to deliver investment to the benefit of communities is massive.

But of course, the Executive and the Assembly are not in place. The Irish Government’s message in public and in private to the parties in the North and to our partners in the UK Government has been completely consistent: the people of Northern Ireland voted. And that vote must be respected, so that Stormont can play its part in realising this potential.

It is my view that the two governments need to be the driver for positive relations across these islands, and for creating the circumstances within which a restored Stormont delivers for all the people of Northern Ireland.

We want to see all strands of the Good Friday Agreement working effectively. All three strands are mutually reinforcing, and interdependent.

With it being Budget Week – let me say a word on the decisions and the priorities that you will have seen in the budget.

What I hope you recognise in this Budget is a government that is serious about making improvements in people’s lives today, and protecting those improvements for the future.

I hope you recognise a government that is serious about tackling the big strategic problems facing our country – housing, healthcare, transport infrastructure, climate change, and making sure we have the funding necessary to do so, through our new long term Investment Funds.

We are also serious about reconciliation on the island of Ireland. That is why I was pleased to secure a 40% increase in my department’s Reconciliation Fund.

And I hope you recognise a government that has nurtured and protected our social and economic progress, is now making the investments necessary to ensure that such progress can continue into the future.

This budget comes against the backdrop of significant international uncertainty, and it comes after an extended period of unprecedented upheaval and major change.

Throughout all of this upheaval and change, it was and is critical that we as Government maintain engagement with stakeholders.

That is one reason I was delighted to accept your invitation. That is also why I personally chair the Brexit Stakeholder forum. It is vital that those of us in Government, who sit at Cabinet, proactively seek your insights and perspectives.

This is always true, but it has been particularly important, and this Chamber has been particularly helpful, as we worked to manage the impact of the UK departure from the EU.

Managing those impacts remains a priority. The impact of Brexit will continue to be felt across these islands for some time to come. However, as we have proven over recent years, we are at our best when we work together in preparing for and mitigating against those impacts.

Taking a wider lens, in my role as Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ireland must and will continue to forge partnerships in different parts of the globe, opening new markets and making new friends. That’s a conversation I look forward to returning to during our Global Ireland Summit – which I hope to see some of you at in Dublin Castle - at the end of this month.

But returning closer to home to conclude.

Everyone in this room knows - for Ireland, our links across these islands are about much more than a market. This is about relationships. Business to business. People to people. Trading goods, trading services, but much more than only that.

At a gathering like this, I hope we can weave new strands to what is a dynamic and rich tapestry.

One new and important strand this week is the exciting prospect of these islands coming together to host the European Championships.

Now that this has been confirmed by UEFA, this is another way in which we will come together as we together prepare for the tournament in 2028. An exciting project for our people, for our communities and hopefully for our football teams.

Partnership, potential and prosperity – that’s what I think we need to focus on. The vital importance of fostering an environment where our businesses, large and small, thrive, and where our communities – across these islands - all benefit.

I wish you all well – both for the remainder of this important conference – and for your continued work bringing together people and business under the British Irish Chamber of Commerce framework.

I know we’ve touched on a lot there, but I’m happy to talk more about any of it if there are any questions. So over to you.