LAST UPDATE | 11 May 2023

SDLP LEADER COLUM Eastwood has told the UK’s House of Commons that Northern Ireland would be “better off” if it joined the “thriving economic entity that is the Republic of Ireland”.

However, a DUP MP claimed that the Republic of Ireland is “not a paradise at all” and pointed to the comparative cost of a Big Mac from McDonald’s as one of the examples of this.

The interaction came during a debate on the Northern Ireland (Interim Arrangements) Bill in the House of Commons yesterday.

The Bill cleared the Commons and Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker told MPs that it will “ensure a continuation of the current governance arrangements in Northern Ireland… should there be no executive when they expire on 5 June”.

There has been no functioning government in Stormont since last year when the DUP withdrew in protest over the post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland.

The SDLP’s Colum Eastwood told the Commons that the Windsor Framework, which was recently struck by the UK and EU to reduce red tape on goods entering Northern Ireland from Britain, “gives us the opportunity to trade” into both Britain and the EU.

DUP MP Paul Girvan responded that the “Republic of Ireland, with its fiscal taxation policy, sucked in all the inward investment that we were to get”.

Girvan added: “We never benefited from the major companies that, over the last 17 years, went into the Republic of Ireland when they should have come to Northern Ireland.”

Eastwood replied that this was a “very interesting take” given that “next year the Irish Government will have a budget surplus of €16 billion and we are squabbling over the crumbs from London’s table”.

While the Irish Government is set to have a budget surplus of €16 billion next year, London is cutting services to our children.

Our people’s interests would be better serviced in a new, united Ireland.@SDLPlive pic.twitter.com/pMJVM0eZCy

— Colum Eastwood 🇺🇦 (@columeastwood) May 11, 2023

The SDLP leader added: “Why are we not trying to join the thriving economic entity that is the Republic of Ireland? Our people would be a lot better off.”

However, the DUP’s Jim Shannon later addressed the debate to “give the House a couple of wee facts” about the Republic of Ireland.

Shannon said: “Member for Foyle (Colum Eastwood) referred to the Republic of Ireland as the place we should be looking towards. I will give the House a couple of wee facts about that.

“In the Republic of Ireland – which is where he seemed to indicate he wishes to be – anyone who wants an appointment with their GP has to pay €45 to €60 each time.

“If they have to go to accident and emergency, they pay €100 every time. Anyone 16 or over who has to stay overnight in the hospital pays €80, while the cost of living in the Republic of Ireland is 21% higher than in the United Kingdom.”

And while he claimed to not be a “fan” of Big Macs, Shannon pointed towards the cost of fast food as another area where the Republic of Ireland is worse off.

Shannon told the Commons: “And anyone who wants a Big Mac from McDonald’s—I am not a fan; I do not buy them—will have to pay £2 more in the Republic of Ireland than they will in Northern Ireland or across the United Kingdom.

“Those are just examples of that paradise that the honourable Gentleman (Eastwood) refers to—which is not a paradise at all—so let us keep things in perspective when we look at costs.”

Shannon later described the Bill as “punishing” and added that it “hurts not only unionists but everyone in Northern Ireland”.

Ending the debate, Northern Ireland Minister Steve Baer said: “I am clear, as we go forward with the Bill, that we do not want to be here again with Bills of this nature.

“My goodness, I want us to get to the point, beyond this Bill, where we are celebrating the return of devolved government to solve the real problems that we face, and celebrating a Northern Ireland that has a much better and brighter future.”