The ancient Kingdom of Ailech, or Aileach, lasted from the 5th to the 12th centuries, covering what are now the counties of Donegal, Tyrone and Derry/Londonderry. Today, despite partition, much of this area continues to constitute a single economic and social region that is recognised as such by its population.
This reality is made clear if you stand at the factory gates of two of the region’s largest employers, Vertiv in Burnfoot in the Republic and Seagate in Derry. Many of the cars coming in every day bear the registration numbers of the other jurisdiction. Derry itself is a cross-border city, whose suburbs include Muff and Bridgend, both in the Irish jurisdiction, while another, Killea, is two thirds in the Republic and one third in the UK. The border runs between and within the village’s roads.
From across Donegal’s Inishowen in particular, thousands of its population commute to work, study or shop in Derry. Some cross the border several times a day. Derry and Donegal are economically and socially intertwined. Not surprisingly, the two areas share comparable challenges in terms of low incomes, low employment rates and low external investment, reflecting their marginal physical and political connectivity.
This interdependence and border permeability help to explain why a hard border was never a realistic option post Brexit. And the challenges of how to deal with the border while respecting the reality of continuing constitutional separation was considered within the Good Friday Agreement, while also representing one of its most difficult aspects. David Trimble almost walked away from negotiations over the proposals for cross-border bodies.
The number of those cross-border bodies – dealing with waterways, languages, tourism, peace funding, food safety and inter-trading – fell short of the areas that were agreed for co-operation. While strategic transport planning, environmental management, urban and rural development planning and arrangements for cross-border workers were all areas agreed in the GFA for North-South co-operation and implementation, the reality is disappointingly weak engagement.
In a report written for the peacebuilding charity the Holywell Trust, I compared the level of public service and infrastructure connectivity in the North West of this island with that in other places worldwide, where urban areas spanned national jurisdictions. Those places were the Swiss city of Basel, the Basque region, the US/Canadian region of Cascadia and the so-called ‘twin cities’ of Thailand, which bleed into Lao and Myanmar.
In these locations there are numerous examples of integrated cross-border transport planning, including the construction of rail lines and park and ride areas to facilitate cross-border commuting, as well as shared ecological management of border areas, joint disaster planning and integrated physical and social infrastructure between neighbouring authorities. Mutual recognition of skills and qualifications is a core part of an effective cross-border travel to work area and labour market.
Yet in the Derry/Donegal area, the two agencies responsible for inward investment both state that in engaging with potential investors they focus on the skills and qualifications on their side of the border. This reflects different data recording systems and incompatibilities regarding qualification recognition. Transport connectivity across the border is weak, with inadequate roads, infrequent bus services, and no rail links. Employers frequently cite differences in tax, benefits and pensions systems as a deterrent to engaging cross-border workers.
Opinion polling conducted for the Holywell Trust by LucidTrust revealed the high level of support in the North West for resolving these challenges. Respondents from the two sides of the border recorded 68% support for governmental recognition of the North West as a single economic sub-region, with the figure at 71% amongst Northern Ireland respondents. Other responses showed 90% support for integrated cross-border transport infrastructure; 84% support for cross-border co-ordination of health services; and 84% support for integrated cross-border ecological management. While the support for the harmonisation and simplification of cross-border treatment of tax, benefits and pensions was lower, at 54%, this still represented a decisive yes, with only 21% against.
All these responses were both positive and significant. But it should not be ignored that a minority of respondents want no cross-border integration or co-ordination of services and planning, while some indicated they want no contact with people in the other jurisdiction. Asked if they favoured cross-border support programmes to facilitate engagement with people of different community backgrounds on both sides of the border, while 80% of those in Northern Ireland answered yes, some 16% said no. (The figures for respondents in Co Donegal were 82% yes and 10% no.)
Whether the overall survey results can be used so that the border is not also a barrier in economic, social and political terms – at least in the North West – is a matter for politicians, not just in Stormont and the Oireachtas, but also in Westminster. At least they now have the evidence.