Will closer fiscal policies help both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland grow faster?

David Bloch, MD of the Brightwater Group comments:

44% felt closer ties between N & S Ireland will help both economies, with an equal 44% feeling it wouldn't. 12% were uncertain if closer ties would help... but I am certain it would!

There are many people whinging about the state of things and when you're in a dark corner, it is difficult to see possibilities. I'm going to start by covering the obvious disparity of corporation tax.

The first thing to understand about corporation tax is that you only pay corporation tax if you are making money! A company's very first concern is 'how are we going to make, or save money'?! This has nothing to do with the CGT rate and has everything to do with running effective operations. To this end both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland score very highly with English speaking, young, well educated, motivated, qualified and internationally connected countries, working in open economies. The South has the additional advantage of the CGT rate and The North has the additional advantage of the weight of the UK behind it bringing stability and infrastructure.

I am absolutely clear that Brightwater's best tie-up has been between our North and South operations. We have tie-ups with UK recruitment agencies, Australian, New Zealand, Hungarian, South African and more, but without a shadow of a doubt our most effective partner... because they are our most motivated partner, is between the North and the Republic of Ireland. There are a few reasons for this, but one reason is that we are our most obvious partners. We share the same language, culture, history, education... and while we are used to pointing out our differences (almost sibling rivalry), we share more than with anyone else on the planet. Here's how Brightwater have used this partnership this year:

In late 2009, Brightwater's Dublin and Belfast offices decided to meet regularly to secure more business nationally and internationally. Our joint approach has given gravitas to both, effecting and winning business with Clients like Fujitsu, Ernst & Young and Citi Group. Together we have won business internationally with KPMG, Freshfields and a host of engineering companies. Finally, we have worked together on inward investment and in November, INI (Invest Northern Ireland) announced that our Belfast office would be recruiting for 30 high-skilled roles for Herbert Smith who were moving some of their back office to Northern Ireland NB. If successful, a hundred more jobs may follow in 2011. It s fair to say that our Belfast office would have struggled to win this business without assistance from the South... and it is also fair to say that Herbert Smith, one of the biggest Legal firms in the world may not have come to Belfast if they hadn't been convinced that they could find the right calibre people. Herbert Smith considered Bristol, India and Belfast for their back office and did extensive research. Their most pressing concern was having a skills pool that would meet heir needs and before they made their decision, they looked at precis of suitable candidates. One role of particular concern was that of COO where they needed a candidate who had held this pivotal role in a major professional firm and we were able to supply precis from our Dublin office.

The effect of the closer ties we built between North and South Ireland has benefitted both countries, as well as Brightwater. I haven't calculated exactly what we've gained by our closer ties as this is difficult to quantify, but both offices have certainly benefitted with our staff numbers increasing by 24% this year and Group sales up 45%. I plan to increase our international cooperation in 2011 with the island of Ireland my first port of call. With under 6 million people on the island sharing similar concerns, advantages and disadvantages, it's clear that together we're stronger!

Take this month's poll:

Will 2011 be better economically for Ireland Inc?