Business on a connected island

There are significant benefits for businesses that operate on an all-island basis. As a natural economic zone with few restrictive barriers between jurisdictions, doing business in both allows additional scope, scale and substance to help drive growth and job creation.

‘Business on a connected island’ is a joint CBI NI and Ibec report that combines available data from Ireland and Northern Ireland on all-island demographics, economic activity/indicators, labour market and trade flows to outline recommendations that will advance economic development on the island of Ireland. It also sets out case studies on the practical benefits for firms of the scale and proximity provided by an all-island market for goods and services.

There report makes five key recommendations to protect business investment in the connected island ahead of and following the UK exit from the EU:

• Protect the all-island economy for future growth
• A collective response is required for future growth
• Infrastructure provision key to future growth
• Ensuring future skills needs are met
• All-island economic activity should be better measured