Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): Neither man will be in their present job for much longer, but today's meeting between Irish Finance Minister Brian Cowen and his Northern counterpart Peter Robinson was no less significant for that.
Cowen was last week elected leader of Fianna Fail, the Republic's dominant political force, and is expected to take over as Taoiseach next month. Robinson is set to become First Minister of Northern Ireland in June, following his nomination this morning for the leadership of the North's largest party, the DUP.
The two ministers announced plans to allow companies from Dublin's International Financial Services Centre to retain tax breaks if they set up operations in the North:
"For years people have been talking glibly about cross-border co-operation that is to the mutual benefit of people in Northern Ireland and the Republic.
"This is what it looks like," [Robinson] said.
"For the Republic it allows for the expansion of an already significant financial services sector and for Northern Ireland it provides the potential of thousands of high value-added jobs."
Bertie Ahern and Ian Paisley developed an increasingly cordial relationship in recent years. That dynamic looks set to continue under their successors.
