CENTRE’S LATEST SURVEY REVEALS OPTIMISM AMONG GB, IRISH AND NORTHERN IRELAND FIRMS AND ORGANISATIONS
The politics of Brexit in Northern Ireland and Ireland are becoming more positive and more responsive to the needs of people building collaborative relations between communities across these island, concludes the ninth quarterly survey conducted by the Centre for Cross Border Studies.
The first such survey to show signs of optimism among businesses and civic society in two years ends on a much more positive note than before. In terms of both the North-South and East-West dimensions, in almost every context, more people believe that the situation is improving than believe it is deteriorating (improved and deteriorated were equal for the East-West social context).
Centre Director Dr Anthony Soares says the Windsor Framework is key to this optimism.
“The upbeat survey results can broadly be attributed to the Windsor Framework agreed between the UK and EU to mitigate against issues that have become apparent in the Protocol for Ireland/Northern Ireland and, more broadly, the improving relationship between the UK and EU under Rishi Sunak,” says Dr Soares. “It is giving people engaged in collaboration, both North-South and East-West, cause for (cautious) optimism.”
When asked: in comparison with the previous quarter, do you think the political context for collaboration with the other jurisdiction on the island of Ireland has improved, 26.5% of respondents agreed while 55.9% said it had remained the same, 11.8% said it had deteriorated and 5.9% didn’t know.
“There is strong recognition that tensions among the Protestant, Unionist and Loyalist community and the ongoing absence of an Assembly are a cause of political uncertainty,” says Dr Soares.
The social context question which asked about collaboration with the other jurisdiction showed that 20.6% believed this had improved while 70.6% saw no change, 2.9% believed it to have deteriorated and 5.9% didn’t know.
“In the social context people are broadly optimistic in light of progress on the Protocol but recognise that the ability for social collaboration is heavily dependent on other contexts especially the political situation,” adds Dr Soares.
“Obviously, there is more work to be done to restore the context for collaboration to pre-Brexit levels, and the absence of Stormont is still hurting the people of Northern Ireland but it does appear, at last, that the politics of Brexit with regard to Northern Ireland and Ireland are becoming more positive and more responsive to the needs of people who are trying to build relations between communities across these islands.”
For more information visit: www.crossborder.ie