Irish Trade with the UK

Lord Digby Jones, a cross-bench peer, claimed that 90% of Ireland’s trade was with the UK. This claim was shared over 1.7k times on Twitter.

This article finds that the Lord’s figure is a vast overestimate.

Silence in the Library

Lord Digby Jones asserted on Twitter that:

90% of [Ireland’s] trade is with the UK.

The House of Commons Library is an excellent research organisation, writing briefing papers to inform debates in the Commons. Matthew Ward’s paper looks at UK-Ireland bilateral trade. (It was, by good fortune, published two days prior to Lord Jones’ Twitter claim.)

External trade statistics from the Irish Central Statistics Office show that, quoting the Commons Library paper:

• Irish goods exports to the UK fell from 56% of total goods exports in 1974 to 11% in 2018.
• Goods imports from the UK fell from 48% of total goods imports in 1981 to 20% in 2016.