Dundalk Chamber of Commerce goes up North for printing

[joel]

No such place as 'Uk'. It's Ireland.

The United Kingdom of Great britain and Northern Ireland - the UK.

[JCSkinner]

Remind me, Northern where?
And who exactly administers it? Would they be Irish people by any chance? Born in Ireland? Raised and living in Ireland?

[diablo]

they are not the only people doing this,, the RTE GUIDE is printed in england so is all DISCOVER IRELAND printing and all big government contracts are printed in portugal and spain
i know this because im a printer by trade and am working a 3 day week like most of the industry, people are losing their jobs in the hundreds week after week because of the amount of work going abroad
its a national disgrace

This really boils my piss!

Taxpayers money should not be going abroad for these contracts. Even if they are 15-20% more expensive here the net effect on the economy would outweigh the additional cost. The tenders can be written to the advantage of Irish companies.....tenders are targeted to specific vendors in the private sector all the time.

[myksav]

No such place as 'Uk'. It's Ireland.

Which State has legal juristiction over Northern Ireland?
I think you will find that it is not the Gov't of the Republic of Ireland, ie. not the shower we have in Dáil Eireann.

As to printing in Ireland of items for Irish users, particularly State bodies, the printing should be done here.

Personally, any print jobs I can't handle for myself, I farm out to local printers. Even if it's a bit more expensive than a foreign printer. Reason? I can easily speak face-to-face with the printer here to get exactly what I want. Plus, it's faster to get the finished product.

[selfemployedmar]

I'd like to address this ongoing BS about shopping in the North being 'unpatriotic'.
We've heard that sort of BS from the gombeen kleptocrats of Fianna Fail, and I'd expect nothing less than partitionist language from the 'Republican' party.
But it is tremendously dismaying to see the same terminology used on this site by otherwise apparently intelligent people.
It is NOT unpatriotic to shop in the North of Ireland because it is the North of IRELAND.
It may be to the detriment of businesses and indeed entire towns, and even the exchequer of the Southern government.
But it is not unpatriotic. You're still shopping in Ireland.

The word our Minister for Finance used was " unpatriotic" if we did not shop local...

I agree its not unpatriotic to shop in the north, most people think the same! It is sarcasm directed at the Minister for saying that..

Newry & Mourne/Co Louth work together to promote cross border trade, as far as I am aware as do most border counties, it is just a bit rediculous for the Chamber of Commerce to come out with a statement to promote shop local and they themselves dont get their material printed locally.. Its a contradiction...
They should have said shop in both areas..

[Saoirsí]

Never ceases to amaze me how so many supposedly cosmopolitan people in Ireland can be so parochial - and I'm looking at you, Mr. Cochrane. If it's the loss of tax revenue due to taxes on the printing going to the British state, that might indeed be a - tiny - issue.

The idea that Irish people are only "really" Irish by virtue of inhabiting the 26 counties might come as something of a surprise to the many emmigrants among the diaspora in other countries. Or rather, actually it wouldn't. Eaten bread is soon forgotten and all that.

It's pretty perverse to consider that patriotism now consists of completely ignoring the deep historical, and cultural ties (not to mention political - even FG calls itself the "United Ireland Party") across the traditional national territory. You're actually proud of being that senslessly parochial, of worshipping the limitations the state, as opposed to respecting the natural hinterlands of people? Greasy fingers in the till, indeed.

It's like a bad Cork joke - real patriots don't shop in Kerry. But you take this seriously?

[Edit]
And just to clarify: if you are going to encourage people to shop local, then you should lead by example and shop local. Getting two quotes "down South" (this is Dixieland?) in Cork and Offaly for example, doesn't necessarily imply that - any more than if they got it in Belfast. But the Big Bad Alien North and their Strange Foreigners is arguably a lot closer to Dundalk than much of the rest of Ireland.

[Grailknight]

Dundalk is a crap town anyway.

[adamirer]

Stupid, stupid sensationalist journalism.

Look, the State (or taxpayer as the anti public service crowd here call them) is legally obliged to takes the best offer from any tender from an EU member state. The best being, most economically advantageous tender. It cannot award tenders to firms just becasue they are in Ireland. It's illegal.

If astate body, OPW being the one quoted, are involved, then its a legal pre-requiste. If it was the Chamers (private group??), then the rules don't apply.

OPW have no other legal option but to award it to best tender or risk getting sued.

[manicstreetporter]

Not very patriotic of them.

[dotski_w_]

Remind me, Northern where?
And who exactly administers it? Would they be Irish people by any chance? Born in Ireland? Raised and living in Ireland?

Are you talking about the civil servants or the Govt? Most powers of govt still reside with Westminister, Stormont has fewer powers than a German regional govt.