FDI – Slugger O'Toole

“It was crazy to allege that the Irish government isn’t working for the interests of [northern] businesses.”

Mick Fealty on November 14, 2016, 5:03 pm | Readers 1523

This is worth noting. It relates to Arlene’s accusation aimed at the Republic accusing them of poaching FDI opportunities away from NI. In reply to a written question from Cavan Monaghan TD Brendan Smyth, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Mary Mitchell O’Connor noted (scroll down to Question 506) this last week: Both agencies under the aegis of my Department, Enterprise Ireland (EI) and IDA Ireland, engage with relevant bodies in Northern Ireland to pursue areas of mutual advantage. Developing all-island initiatives …

Why are [some] Irish politicians so reluctant to take Vestager’s €13 Billion and run?

Mick Fealty on September 2, 2016, 10:13 am | Readers 974

So today should be interesting in Dublin. It should be a make your mind up day for the Irish Cabinet to decide on whether Ireland should, as a member state, challenge Tuesday’s ruling of European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager. It could fall in several ways. It may force the government to assemble a water tight argument on the politically embarrassing tax justice issues involved in launching an appeal, or perhaps defer the pain by looking to the court to seek clarification …

Ireland, the US, the EU Commission and the dilemma over how to play an #AppleTax wind fall…

Mick Fealty on August 31, 2016, 9:31 am | Readers 1082

It’s awkward. Ireland’s FDI policy has been in train for nearly 70 years. It has shaped its economy not simply through cutting deals and sustaining low tax, but developing its education and outreach through its diaspora. It wasn’t just sentiment that brought big US companies ‘home’. The decision (available only by presser), by what amounts to the EU’s Civil Service, that Apple (a private company with approximately £600 billion in its savings account) must pay Ireland some €13 billion in unpaid taxes …

Which party exactly represents a practical challenge to the ongoing deprivations of west Belfast?

Mick Fealty on February 26, 2015, 1:17 pm | Readers 856

Here’s an odd little story, which may or may not tell us something about: a, the relevance of actual policy to the political discourse in Northern Ireland; or b the sheer emptiness of the political campaigning in our first fixed term Westminster elections. For a long time the SDLP has been scathing of Invest NI’s (completely understandable) reluctance to ‘break new economic ground’ with regards to its inward investment strategy. It’s an easier sell to get companies to come to …

JTI ‘consultation’ and the economic folly of NI’s politics of ‘separate development’…

Mick Fealty on October 14, 2014, 6:47 am | Readers 1056

If Gallahers leaves Ballymena it will mark the end of one of Northern Ireland’s long term industrial successes. Originally founded in Derry in 1857 by Tom Gallaher, the Gallaher group built itself up into a world wide concern by the end of the 19th Century. Ian Paisley Junior was very quick to pin the blame on Sinn Fein MEP Martina Anderson for voting through anti smoking regulations in the EP, even though a quick look at the figures (514 in favour to 66 against, with …

Beijing accounts for just 1% of FDI in Europe so Ireland will have to wait…

Mick Fealty on May 23, 2012, 5:23 pm | Readers 57

Nice observation from Simon Carswell in his Bottom Line column today in the Irish Times, regarding the recent high level visit of the putative leader of the Peoples Republic of China. …these visits really only suggest the potential that exists. China accounts for just 3 per cent of exports and most of that is dairy products, notably infant milk formula. UCD economist Colm McCarthy pointed out that Ireland exported the same amount of merchandise to China last year as it …