Bertie Ahern
Question:34 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment if the Government welcomes the recent conference in Dundalk, County Louth promoting the idea of a Dublin-Belfast economic corridor. [3576/97]
Written Answers. - Dublin-Belfast Economic Corridor.
The Government welcomes the conference held on 28 January last, in Dundalk, organised by the Joint business council of IBEC-CBI Northern Ireland. The aim of the conference was to further promote the Dublin-Belfast corridor area as an important means of accelerating the development of North-South business links.
Interested parties from the US, Canada, Great Britain and Italy were represented, where similar economic corridors are flourishing. Representatives from the EU Commission were also present. I understand that following the very positive response received at the conference, the joint business council is developing a business plan and long-term strategy for the corridor area.
The work of the joint business council, through its task force, in promoting the economic corridor is aimed at complementing rather than replacing existing cross-Border initiatives and in the light of the potential contribution it can make to both economic well-being and cross-Border co-operation on the island as a whole, I shall be watching its deliberations with interest. I am pleased to note that the Secretary of my Department played an active role in the preparatory work for this very worthwhile activity.
It is worth stressing, however, that an economic corridor as proposed would be but one strand of a variety of initiatives and my Department and the agencies which fall within my remit have been and continue to be involved in a number of such cross-Border initiatives to promote and develop industry. These are dealt with in my reply to Deputy Leonard's separate question today.