Irish trade with Northern Ireland booms after Brexit

Ireland’s trade with Northern Ireland grew rapidly in 2021 with imports up 65% and exports to the British-run region 54% higher, helping to offset a 13% fall in imports from Britain during the first year of Brexit checks, data showed on Tuesday.

The fall in the value of British imports to 15.4 billion euros ($17 billion) from 17.7 billion meant goods coming into Ireland from its larger neighbour represented 15% of the value of total imports last year compared to 21% in 2020.

Overall imports jumped 18% to 102 billion euros, including a 1.6 billion euro uplift from Northern Ireland, which remains in the European Union’s trading orbit under the Brexit withdrawal agreement, with no checks on goods crossing its open border with EU member Ireland.