{"id":222114,"date":"2025-12-08T16:33:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T16:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/222114\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T16:33:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T16:33:10","slug":"northern-ireland-economy-underperforming-republic-but-exceeding-uk-growth-rate-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/222114\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Ireland economy \u2018underperforming\u2019 Republic but exceeding UK growth rate \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Northern Ireland<\/a>\u2019s economy has continued to underperform the Republic\u2019s in key areas like national and household income, but it is growing at a faster pace than the United Kingdom<\/a> in general, according to a new report. <\/p>\n

On Monday, the Economic & Social Research Institute<\/a> (ESRI) published new research comparing cross-Border economic trends. <\/p>\n

The report is the first in a series to examine economic developments and linkages between the two economies conducted by the think tank in conjunction with the Department of the Taoiseach\u2019s so-called Shared Island<\/a> unit. <\/p>\n

Written by economists Alan Barrett<\/a> and Adele Bergin<\/a>, the report notes that both economies were growing up to the end of the second quarter of this year. <\/p>\n

Northern Ireland\u2019s economy grew by 2.8 per cent on an annual basis, while modified domestic demand \u2013 a metric that attempts to strip out the distorting effect of multinationals in the Republic \u2013 grew by 3.2 per cent over the same period.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the rate of growth in Northern Ireland lags that of [the Republic], the rate for Northern Ireland is more than double that of the UK in the same period,\u201d the report\u2019s authors said. <\/p>\n

Employment in the North is also growing at a rate \u201ccomparable\u201d to that of the Republic, rising by 2.5 per cent and 2.3 per cent respectively in the 12 months to the end of June. <\/p>\n

The North\u2019s unemployment rate was also substantially lower than the Republic\u2019s at the end of the second quarter, \u201calthough this must be viewed in the context of the lower participation rate in Northern Ireland\u201d, the authors said. <\/p>\n

However, the report also highlights the difficulties in comparing the two economies, due to gaps in the data. Data for the North is \u201cgenerally available with more of a lag\u201d than for the Republic, particularly in relation to demographic indicators, it found. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Manufacturing in Northern Ireland definitely not a thing of the pastOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The economists said that developing comparable data on an all-island basis \u201ccould support more effective labour market planning\u201d. <\/p>\n

For example, a greater understanding of how students and workers move between the jurisdictions \u201ccould help identify opportunities to better align training provision with demand, facilitate targeted investment in education and employment supports, and promote more co-ordinated workforce development strategies\u201d, it argued. <\/p>\n

\u201cImproved cross-Border collaboration on data collection and reporting is a strategic priority for future analysis.\u201d <\/p>\n

Commenting on the report\u2019s publication, Mr Barrett said: \u201cIt is exciting to be starting this annual series tracking the economies of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Comparative studies across countries are a standard method for generating insights. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to assess over time how the two economies evolve and how policy is influencing those evolutions, always with a view to informing policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Publishing the report, T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris said the annual series would \u201cbuild on\u201d previous ESRI research done on behalf of the Shared Island programme.<\/p>\n

He said the annual series would look at \u201cbroader and deeper\u201d data comparisons to yield insights and \u201cfood for thought\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe series will build up a crucial evidence base on economic similarities and differences, North and South, and help identify how we could cooperate more for mutual benefit, across a range of policy areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said insight into the similarities and divergences north and south \u2013 such as differences on sectoral structure, labour market participation and overall rates of education attainment \u2013 were \u201cvital\u201d metrics needed to develop more cooperation on the island.<\/p>\n

He said that he agreed productivity, competitiveness, and decarbonisation \u201call hold strong potential for future work by both administrations\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt with this context of success and of opportunity \u2013 and recognising also that there are challenges and there are divergences in our economy and society, North and South \u2013 that the new ESRI research series will engage \u2013 mapping, analysing, informing and spurring debate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is exactly what we need to help inform and deepen the cooperation agenda and indeed a wider island-wide conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Northern Ireland\u2019s economy has continued to underperform the Republic\u2019s in key areas like national and household income, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[174],"tags":[79,179,18,38419,19,17,954,119739,1294],"class_list":{"0":"post-222114","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-esri","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-northern-ireland","15":"tag-shared-island","16":"tag-uk"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115684914243186250","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}