Newry could become Ireland’s Malmo, according to a new report.
The 64-page report, titled Newry Next, has suggested that the town could follow the lead of the southern Swedish city, which is home to thousands of people working in the nearby Danish capital, Copenhagen.
It has set out a plan that would address Dublin’s housing needs by making the Co Down town into a cross-Border commuter hub by facilitating the construction of 6,000 new houses over the next decade, The Irish Times reported on Saturday.
The report was written by businessman Paschal Taggart and Ger Perdisatt, a strategy adviser on artificial intelligence (AI), and argued that Newry could leverage both its cross-Border location and its proximity to both Dublin and Belfast, to provide large homes for commuters for €150,000 less than they would pay in commuter towns such as Mullingar, Portlaoise and Carlow.
The initiative, supported by former senator Martin McAleese, has suggested the Newry and Bambridge areas of Co Down could use the same “economic corridor” model as other cross-Border commuter towns and cities throughout Europe.
Under the model, workers live in one country where the cost of housing and living is cheaper, but work in another country where they pay their income taxes.
European examples include the corridors connecting Malmo and Copenhagen; between Annemasse, France, and Geneva in Switzerland; and between Bratislava in Slovakia and Vienna, Austria.
The report authors said there were 14,000 cross-Border commutes daily on the railway and motorways that linked Dublin and Belfast, and commuting time was 45 minutes to Belfast and 75 minutes to Dublin.
In his foreword to the report, Dr McAleese said the lack of wastewater capacity had already stalled the delivery of more than 1,300 homes and almost 30 commercial projects in the area.
“That simply cannot continue to be a brake on progress and development,” the report said.
A central recommendation is an investment of more than £107 million (€123 million) for wastewater treatment expansion and network reinforcement.
It also recommended upgrades to railway and road infrastructure, as well as the establishment of an anchor development zone, similar to the Shannon Free Zone, which offers favourable tax arrangements to attract investment.
A second phase of investment would allow more infrastructural upgrades, the report added.
The report said that from the £107 million, the direct and economic benefits to the region could be as much as £1.5 billion over the next decade.
The wastewater upgrade would act as “enabling infrastructure”, allowing private capital “to fund housing commercial development without ongoing public subsidy for construction”.
“The resulting activity expands the local tax base, supports employment and strengthens long-term regional economic resilience,” it said.
Mr Taggart told The Irish Times how a house that would cost €400,000 in commuter towns in the Republic would cost €150,000 less in Newry.
Mr Taggart said the construction of 6,000 houses would increase the population of the region by 15,000.
The benefit for Dublin is that cross-Border commuters would pay Irish income taxes, but would then spend money locally in the Newry and Bambridge areas, he said. There would also be knock-on benefits, with more retail businesses and other economic activity.