N. Ireland lures its youth home Delegation shares labor ideas in Bangor

BANGOR – A recent period of economic prosperity and political stability in Northern Ireland is bringing back people under 35 years old who left years ago to find job opportunities elsewhere, according to a Northern Ireland marketing representative visiting here.

What a small northwest region of Northern Ireland is doing to encourage the youth boomerang is fascinating Bangor officials who this week are welcoming a delegation to discuss mutual economic development opportunities.

Here through this afternoon, the 11-member Northern Ireland team is visiting MBNA in Belfast, GE Power Systems and Eastern Maine Development Corp. in Bangor, Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor and Target Information Technology Incubator in Orono.

At a breakfast meeting with Bangor officials Monday, representatives from Northern Ireland and Bangor emphasized the similarities between both areas – strong tourism attraction and bountiful natural resources.

But Gerry Henry, director of city marketing for Derry, Northern Ireland, mentioned one distinct difference: people under age 35 are leaving Bangor and the northern two-thirds of Maine for job opportunities elsewhere while 60 percent of Derry’s population is under 35, and many of them left and now are back.

The younger people are being recruited to return by municipal governments and businesses that need them to contribute to the economy and help it prosper, Henry said. Plus, they are returning to the area because they “feel they have a responsibility to give something back.”

The University of Ulster, chambers of commerce and cities have formed an “attract back” program that directs job advertisements, through a Web site or other methods of communication, at young people who left.

“It was time to do it,” said Henry, mentioning that although an economic boom is over, business prospects remain good in Northern Ireland.

Ireland and Northern Ireland have been experiencing an economic boom that since 1996 has been the envy of many other nations, and has caught the attention of economic developers in Maine. For at least three years, business officials from Ireland have spoken to numerous statewide groups, including the Governor’s Conference on Small Business.

Most of Ireland and Northern Ireland’s double-digit growth since 1996 was attributable to a high-tech investment craze from businesses in North America and Europe, and now the countries are shifting their attention on biomedicine, biotechnology and other knowledge-based industry sectors.

According to a published report by Ireland’s finance minister, the country needs to change direction yet remain dependent on Europe and North America for a boost. Both Ireland and Northern Ireland are experiencing some of the same kinds of problems that Maine is tackling – a strain on consumer confidence, a budget shortfall and an escalation in property costs.

Last month, Ireland Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy said possible economic growth through 2005 could reach 4 percent, but it “depends on a pickup in growth for the euro area and the U.S. in 2003.”

Meetings such as the ones being conducted this week between the Northern Ireland delegation and Bangor and eastern Maine officials over time could mutually benefit both economies, said Bangor Mayor Nichi Farnham. Maine businesses will look for expansion opportunities in Northern Ireland, and the Northern Ireland delegation is doing the same thing in Maine, she said.