THIS week I went along to a talk about the Irish economy.

On the face of it, the subject might seem of only marginal importance to Jersey. For one thing, Dublin is in the euro zone and part of the European Union. On the other hand, this is yet another example where Jersey is not quite an Island.

For instance, Harcourt, the developers selected to build 14 office blocks on Esplanade Square, are based in Dublin. And this week, we understand, Harcourt failed to meet the deadline to put on the table the financial back-up which the States had asked them to provide.

Bear in mind that the development plans are estimated – and I use that word loosely, because there has been much speculation over the true costs – to cost around £350 million. That’s about half of the States’ rainy day fund, if memory serves me right.

Apparently, Harcourt has been asked by Treasury Minister Philip Ozouf to provide surety by way of a £95 million bond.

I didn’t see Senator Ozouf at this week’s seminar, which was organised by Irish bank AIB, but Economic Development Minister Alan Maclean was there, along with at least one departmental officer, as was the director-general of the Jersey Financial Services Commission.

Clearly they were quite keen to know what the bank thought was in store for the economy on which Harcourt depends.

On the face of it, in the short term the prognosis is not good. Apart from the general global environment – which is deeper and broader than anything since the Second World War – Ireland has been hardest hit in the construction sector.

According to the AIB crib sheet, private non-residential investment – like office accommodation – is in sharp decline, exacerbated by the tightening of lending conditions.
Employment is falling and the jobless rate spikes higher.

The bankers this week took a strong stance over the 15 years of growth their country experienced before the crisis hit. They say that the Irish government is taking tough measures to correct its budget deficit and that in the medium term, once the global economy starts to move upwards again, there will be a recovery.

In the short term, the debts incurred by developers who paid too high a price for land that is no longer desireable for building purposes are being taken off the banks’ balance sheets and transferred to a management agency.

But the developers will still have to foot the bill in the end. Of course I am not in any way suggesting that Harcourt might be one of the said debtors, nor that they will be unable to raise the required guarantees which the States are demanding. It will just be that much more difficult in the current economic climate.

And that leaves little hope that the Esplanade Square development will be able to go ahead as planned. Even if States Members were minded to approve it.

Jersey Heritage might focus on Islanders as well as tourists
I HAVE to say that during my week-long break, not once was I tempted to visit a Jersey Heritage site. Not that my meagre contribution would help much to stem what is obviously quite a deep financial problem for Jersey Heritage.

In recent years I have, I confess, revisited the Jersey War Tunnels and Mont Orgueil, but only because these have both been revamped. The trouble, once again, is over-familiarity: why go again to somewhere you’ve already been, many times, as a child and beyond?

In the UK, we are told, heritage sites receive a great deal more state funding than in Jersey. But there is also the advantage of a population which only needs to drive up the motorway or take a train to spend a day moseying around some castle or stately pile. It would take a lot longer to come to Mont Orgueil or Elizabeth Castle for a day out.

I do hear it said, time and time again, that people only go to the museums when they have visitors to stay – and then are pleasantly surprised. I suspect the same applies to other attractions, such as Durrell (the Zoo) Wildlife.

Perhaps Jersey Heritage have been relying too heavily on tourists and have not focused enough on providing something new for us locals? Perhaps they have spent too heavily in the past and failed to recoup their losses? Perhaps last year’s problems with the transport to Elizabeth Castle left a bigger dent than was realised?

Whatever the underlying problem, Mont Orgueil alone has had plenty of media publicity in recent months in the national media. Granted, most of it is in relation to articles about tax havens.

Could that be an idea for a new heritage novelty exhibit – a history of tax evaders, with some tax-free shopping thrown in?

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that there is more than one Channel Island
LAST week I holidayed ‘at home’. If I had been writing a postcard, it would have said something like ‘weather brilliant, sunny every day, beaches gorgeous, people friendly, food excellent.’ With the postscript: ‘Bit pricey, traffic a nightmare’.

Part of it, I’m sure, comes from familiarity. Probably if I had never queued along Victoria Avenue, or had never before tried not to mow down pedestrians in the town centre, or had never heard the Jenson Button wannabes screeching at all hours, it would all seem pretty exciting.

The trouble with stay-at-home breaks is that everything is too familiar to make much of an impact – and the things that grind you down day-to-day tend to have the same, if muted, effect.

I did, however, make the effort to go somewhere I had never been before. I spent a day in Herm, and jolly nice it was too. For one thing, there were absolutely no cars, or even bicycles. The landscape was carpeted with wild flowers, with not a scrap of litter or even an aluminium can in sight.

For a while I really was the only human on a white beach. It even got a little scary – I began to wonder why mine were the only footprints.

Sometimes it is easy to forget that there is more than one Channel Island.