Business lobby group Ibec has produced a new report detailing how the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement in 1998 has delivered economic and social prosperity across the island of Ireland.

Ibec contends that while the impacts of the Peace Process are too complex to disentangle into a single number, there are clear ways in which business understands the benefits which have been delivered through peace, stability and less uncertainty.

The report states: “The peace ‘dividend’ from the BGFA is not simply the sum of rising cross-border trade, but the growing impact stability and certainty had on economic growth and investment.

“The Peace Process has allowed us to leverage our collective economic capacities across the two islands in ways which would not have been fully realised in its absence.”

For Peace & Prosperity argues that Peace Process has helped to create:

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• A more attractive place to live and work, resulting in inward migration of record numbers of young workers.
• A more stable place to invest.
• Growth of all-island trade and brands. In areas such as the Experience Economy, in manufacturing, in Irish Whiskey and in dairy production.
• More joined up all island policy and planning, particularly for physical infrastructure in energy and transport.

Ibec CEO Danny McCoy said that since 1998 there has been record levels of investment right across the island of Ireland and Britain.

“This would simply not have occurred in such magnitude in the absence of peace supporting stability,” he stated. “Such investment has delivered a prosperity that has seen millions of jobs created, hundreds of thousands of new businesses flourish, investment in formerly forgotten communities pour in, all of which has significantly enhanced overall living standards and quality of life for all.”

“While much progress has been made, there remains much to be done to deliver full prosperity from the peace dividend. This is made even more significant in the post-Brexit landscape we find ourselves in.

“If we are to meaningfully mark the 25th anniversary of the BGFA, it is imperative that leading political stakeholders work with the respective business communities to establish detailed, innovative and workable solutions needed to protect and build on the benefits delivered by the all-island economy and ensure its future development is not hampered in any way.”

To make its point, the Ibec report cites the example of American bank Citi.

Citi has been active in Dublin since 1965 and opened its doors in Belfast in 2005 with 375 staff delivering technology services to Citi’s Global Institutional Clients group. According to Ibec, in NI Citi’s headcount is now c.3,500 people.

The Ibec report states: “While the development of the financial and business services sectors is undoubtedly positive, it is very difficult to quantify how responsible the

BGFA is for this success. However if not for the BGFA, Citi would not have established its business in Northern Ireland.”

The organisation is planning a marketing campaign around the theme of ‘For Peace + Prosperity’ centred on the leadership role that the business community played and continues to play in embedding peace, stability and prosperity.

Photo: Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern at the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998