Cross-Border Shoppers Spending Millions

Shoppers from the Irish Republic spent almost €435m in Northern Ireland in the year to July, according to a new report from the Dublin government's statistics office.

The Central Statistics Office said today the figures are probably an under-estimate, not taking account of seasonality, in particular the pre-Christmas rush.

Some 16% of households made at least one shopping trip to the North during the period, and shoppers from Dublin accounted for one-third of all trips.

The nearer shoppers lived to the Border the more often they shopped in the North, the survey found, but the amount spent varied in inverse proportion to distance from the border.

Last month, Retail Ireland, the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) group that represents the Irish retail sector, published an assessment of the jobs to be lost due to cross-border shopping and called for remedial action in the Budget.

Director Torlach Denihan said: "Cross-border shopping during November will result in approximately 1700 people losing their jobs. The impact over the weekend alone will be approximately 400 job losses. If cross-border shopping continues at this rate during December, similar numbers of jobs will be lost, with particular devastation in border counties - Cavan, Donegal, Louth and Monaghan.

See: Cross Border Shopping Trips 'Costing Jobs'

(BMcC/KMcA)