A nice event for Brian Cowen — he gets to meet his fellow leader-in-waiting north of the border, Peter Robinson (no mention of what Ian Paisley said about his lips), and they agree on a scheme which will see the International Financial Services Centre extended to Northern Ireland via a modification of IFSC’s tax exemption to ensure that jobs in Northern Ireland still count as within IFSC.  Cowen burnishes his finance and all-Ireland credentials at the same time.  So let’s be curmudgeonly.

Why should only NI get the benefit of an IFSC satellite?    Just to pick something from today’s news, why not Collinstown, Co. Waterford, where 400 jobs are about to go?  Of course there are counterarguments, such as Collinstown not having the kind of skills than an IFSC operation might need.  Nevertheless, it’s a safe bet that if IFSC jobs do materialize in NI, they’ll be in or around Belfast.  Thus on an all-Ireland basis, more development on the Dublin-Belfast axis.  Less clear what’s in it for the lagging parts of the island, north or south.

Original image The Chancer.