As Britain leaves the EU, it’s vital we protect the greatest UK-Ireland achievement of recent times
• Simon Coveney is Ireland’s foreign minister
To say Ireland and the UK are close friends and neighbours is more than just a platitude. For many generations, Britain was the first place where our people sought work when our economy faltered. And Britain was enriched by the arrival of Irish people too. These women and men provided a much-needed labour force that helped build the infrastructure in British cities and provided the teachers and nurses who taught and cared for communities. The legacy of that was a deeply integrated Irish community, which has contributed greatly to the development of this country.
Our economies are closely intertwined across so many sectors. There are now more than 60,000 Irish-born directors on the boards of UK companies. We have a trading relationship worth over £55bn a year, sustaining more than 400,000 jobs across both islands. The flow of people across the Irish Sea every day has made the Dublin-London air corridor the second busiest in the world.
Continue reading...from The Guardian http://ift.tt/2DMLLr1
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