North-west leaders seek to boost ties with Ireland and Northern Ireland

Political leaders from the North-west will visit Ireland from 28-29th March as part of a mission to boost business links and cooperation across the Irish Sea, followed by a trip to Belfast on the 30th.

Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region mayors, Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram, will be among the delegation, which will also include representatives of 15 exporting businesses and Exports Minister, Mike Freer MP.

North-west leaders will meet in Dublin with Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney and Enterprise Ireland CEO Leo Clancy as well as taking part in a round-table event with the British Irish Chamber of Commerce. The trip seeks to commit to further efforts to deepen cooperation between Ireland and the North West, including cementing plans for more regular visits and collaboration on areas including climate action, trade, and building on cultural links.

Exports of goods to Ireland from the North-west amounted to almost £2 billion in 2019, with Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region accounting for around half of this total. Irish visitors are also among the most frequent travellers to the North-west, while Ireland is among the most popular overseas destinations for tourists from the region.

In Belfast on 30th March, Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram will meet with the Lord Mayor of Belfast and take part in events focused on joint working in priority areas like net zero action, energy, transport, and skills. A delegation from the Northern Irish city will attend a Decarbonisation Summit in Greater Manchester in June this year.

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said:

“I am so pleased that Mayor Steve Rotheram and I will be leading this joint mission to Ireland and Northern Ireland later this month.

“The ties that bind the island of Ireland and the North West are deeply embedded in our communities and our places. This visit will be all about taking that relationship forward, and looking at those shared priority areas – like climate action, digital innovation, and culture and sport – where we can work more closely together for the benefit of our people and our economies.

“Greater Manchester is a global city-region, and we recognise that many of the challenges that we face are global in scale. We have always sought to cooperate with our friends and partners around the world, and as the UK enters into new trading relationships we are determined to put the North West on the front foot to take advantage of those opportunities.”

Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram added:

“I’m really excited by this historic trade delegation that Andy and I are leading to help the North West to forge a stronger, more prosperous future for people on both sides of the Irish Sea. We not only have a rich and intertwined past, but a shared set of future priorities too. On renewable energy, trade, investment, culture, innovation and much, much more I’m looking forward to working with colleagues to help our region grow.”

Ambassador Adrian O’Neill, Ambassador of Ireland to the UK, said: 

“I am delighted that this visit by the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham and the Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotherham to Dublin will take place later this month. The visit presents an excellent opportunity to celebrate the longstanding ties of people, trade and friendship between Ireland and the North-West of England and to broaden and deepen our existing connections. We are very proud to have opened a new Irish Consulate General for the North of England last year and welcome the enhanced links that are already flowing from the on the ground presence of our Consul General Sarah Mangan and her team.”