Political leaders renew commitment to boost North-West and Ireland links

Political leaders from the North-west and the Republic of Ireland met in a virtual summit to continue commitments to strengthening trade and cooperation.

Liverpool City Region Mayor, Steve Rotheram, Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham and the UK’s Minister for Export, Graham Stuart, met separately with the Irish Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney, Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs on 16th November in an online summit. The summit follows Mr Coveney’s announcement of a new Consulate General for the North of England in Manchester.

Discussions centred on a continued ambition to build trade and investment links between the North-West city-regions and the Republic of Ireland, opportunities for further cooperation in culture, sport and innovation, as well as to discuss strong people-to-people links already in the region; both Liverpool and Greater Manchester are home to many people of Irish ancestry. Politicians on both sides of the Irish Sea were keen to stress during the summit continued links between the North-west and Republic of Ireland after Brexit

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said:

Greater Manchester has always been a global city-region, and it’s right that we should be looking to the future and building on the strong relationships we have around the world – including with our closest neighbours.

“Ireland is one of Greater Manchester’s most important markets, with year-on-year growth in exports, while a whole host of Irish companies have invested in our city-region. Many of us here trace our roots back across the Irish Sea, and in normal times Ireland is amongst our biggest tourism destinations.

“As we move into a new phase of UK-Ireland relations we want the North West to be right at the forefront. We are so pleased that the new Consulate General for the North will be based in Manchester, strengthening those historical bonds of friendship and helping us take advantage of new opportunities that will bring mutual benefit to our people and places.”

Leo Varadkar, Tánaiste and Ireland’s Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, said:

Ireland has a long-standing relationship with the UK and we are committed to maintaining that relationship over the months and years ahead. The historic, business and cultural links between Ireland, Manchester and Liverpool are really strong and go back decades.

“We are committed to strengthening these existing ties and building new partnerships, in areas such as infrastructure, housing, clean energy and transport, healthcare and manufacturing. Our meeting today concluded with agreement that we would keep in touch at both political and official level throughout 2021 as we continue to address the challenges posed by Brexit and COVID-19.

“The proposed new Consulate General for the North of England will play an important role in this regard, working closely with Enterprise Ireland’s office in Manchester which was opened in 2019 to help Irish companies seek opportunities and partnerships across the north of England.”