Why the North is streets ahead of the Republic

Transport, planning, supermarket prices… NEVER AFRAID TO TACKLE THE STORIES THAT MATTER

VISITING Belfast last weekend it was clear to me that Northern Ireland is gliding ahead – and in truth, a united Ireland would probably benefit the South more than the North. Take Belfast’s sleek new public transport system. Glider is an elegant fleet of buses dressed up as trams. They even look like the Luas, inside and out.

But the new system has cost the taxpayers in Northern Ireland just £90m – while the Luas has so far cost us hundreds of millions of euros.

Planning-wise, Northerners get things done in much quicker and more cheaply than in the Republic. The latest idea from Finian McGrath and the Independent Alliance to encourage ‘granny flats’ did nothing but expose the fact that planning fees are many times higher in the South – and it takes much longer for the paperwork to be processed.

EVEN look at supermarket prices North and South – and because Tesco operates on the whole island, this is easy to do. A litre of Baileys will cost you €27 in the Republic – you will pay just £12 over the border.

Vodka is twice as expensive in the Republic – while the nation’s new favourite drink, Prosecco, will cost you €15 in Tesco in Dublin but just £8 in Belfast. It’s enough to drive you to drink.

Even the price difference for everyday staples like Kellogg’s Cornflakes is enough to make you choke on your breakfast – €2.19 for a 450g box in the South – but you will get a 790g box for £2.50 in Northern Ireland.

Tuesday’s Budget will see Paschal Donohoe increase taxes on petrol and diesel beyond the current 60% level – while Theresa May pledged this week at the Tory Party conference that she would freeze fuel tax for the ninth year in a row. And remember, up North they do not have road tolls, which are crippling the family motorist and small businesses in the gridlocked South.

What other capital city would tolerate the situation where two of its main bridges are tolled? Motorists are seen as a cash cow by this Government.

Belfast is booming, with its ‘Cathedral quarter’ as busy as Temple Bar – although the fire at the Bank Buildings, which put the flagship Primark store and many others nearby out of business, is a blow to the city centre.

Many Belfast wags point to the empty Stormont building as an ideal temporary location for a pop-up Primark.

The absence of a government in the Northern Assembly simply causes Northerners to throw their eyes to heaven – and the word you hear most to describe the idle politicians is ‘muppets’.

But looking at the prices, planning and transport differences North and South, I think the joke is on us.