The Shared Island Initiative gets its own page in Fianna Fáil’s 200-page manifesto, amid five pages on a broader “Shared Island Agenda”. This is more than Fine Gael has managed so far in its election campaign. Although the initiative operates through a unit in the Department of the Taoiseach, it was established when Micheál Martin held that office and remains very much Fianna Fáil’s baby. The manifesto makes 13 pledges to enhance the initiative, beginning with an additional €1 billion for its budget, the Shared Island Fund. The fund has already received €1 billion in two tranches to last throughout this decade, equivalent to €100 million a year. The manifesto does not specify a time-frame for the additional money, but if it is over the incoming Government’s usual term that would triple spending for the rest of this decade to €300 million a year.

While little of the fund is spent solely and directly in Northern Ireland, resources on this scale invoke the words attributed to the late US senator Everett Dirksen: “a billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money”. A boosted budget can only encourage the growing expectation in Northern Ireland that the Republic might help with struggling infrastructure projects, or even step in to plug........

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