DUP deal: Stormont return should attract investors - US envoy

Joe Kennedy is a grandson of US Senator Robert F Kennedy

The return of Stormont should help efforts to attract investors to Northern Ireland, US trade envoy Joe Kennedy III has said.

Mr Kennedy has been visiting Northern Ireland this week.

He said that he had already been able to bring potential investors to NI but having ministers in place would be important.

He said firms contemplating big commitments "want to talk to the person running government".

"We were able to bring over 50 business and civil society leaders to Northern Ireland back in October because people believe in the people of Northern Ireland.

"But, certainly, when you're talking to major businesses that are being courted for hundreds of millions of dollars of investments they want to be able to sit down and talk to the chief executive, they want to talk to the ministers."

'Long, detailed process'

Part of the government's deal with the DUP contains a commitment to enter into talks with the US on the possibility of introducing pre-clearance procedures for passengers travelling from Belfast International Airport to the US.

There are currently no regularly scheduled transatlantic flights from Belfast - Norwegian ended its services in 2018.

However, Dublin Airport serves more than a dozen US cities, helped by its preclearance facility.

Part of the DUP's deal includes a commitment to enter talks with the US on the possibility of pre-clearance checks at Belfast International Airport

It allows passengers to undertake all US immigration, customs and agriculture inspections at Dublin Airport prior to departure and so avoid immigration queues on arrival.

Mr Kennedy said business leaders in Northern Ireland want to improve connections to the US and he would engage with US agencies.

But he cautioned that getting US agreement for preclearance was "a long, detailed process that takes years and is expensive".

He said airlines would also have to make their own commercial decisions.

Tax breaks aren't 'the holy grail'

The DUP deal also includes a commitment to revive efforts to devolve corporation tax to Northern Ireland.

There has previously been cross-party support for a policy of cutting corporation tax as a tool for attracting international investment.

Mr Kennedy said where there was "broad-based political support for something my job here is to try to support that process".

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However, he suggested that investors were not going to be primarily attracted by tax breaks.

He gave the example of the economic and entrepreneurial strength of his home state of Massachusetts which is not one of the US's lowest tax states.

"There's reasons to want to pursue it. It's not going to be the holy grail that solves every issue.

"I had not heard from our delegation that 'we would be here but for the corporate tax rate'".