Sinn Fein minister finally responds to two economists who questioned her department's presentation of data, saying it used a degree of 'deception'
A Sinn Fein Stormont minister has finally replied to criticism from two economists who said her department seemed to have used data to make the Irish Sea border look good.
On Tuesday, Caoimhe Archibald MLA replied to a letter from Dr Graham Gudgin and Dr Esmond Birine, published in this newspaper at the end of last month, in which they said the presentation of trade information appeared to use “deception” (‘Sinn Fein minister has used economic data that disguises the recent slow growth of Northern Ireland’s exports, and so seems to be boosting the impact of the Irish Sea border,’ January 31).
Dr Birnie and Dr Gudgin wrote that in decades working with Northern Ireland’s economic data they had “always been impressed with its accuracy”. But they noted that in a Department of the Economy press release Dr Archibald had said that “the north’s” output grew faster than in Great Britain and exports also performed well. The release cited statistics that showed output and earnings growing faster in NI than in Great Britain over the year but “when it came to the sensitive export figures, the press release gave figures for a two-year period”. This “disguises” slow growth of NI exports and could make the Protocol/ Windsor Framework (which created an internal UK frontier) seem to be working for the province.
The News Letter offered the department a right of reply prior to publication of the letter. We offered again a week later, but got no response. We have now published Ms Archibald’s response on our letters page, which can be read here.
She says two years of data was used because the framework “came into effect in 2023 so we now have two years of data to draw upon”.
• Letters, page 14