The Quays to Expand

The Quays shopping centre is to double in size after owner Gerard O'Hare announced a €250 million investment, to make the retail complex one of the largest in Ireland and the UK.

Mr O'Hare said he expected even more Southerners to travel to Newry for their shopping following completion, predicting the euro will remain strong and could equal the value of sterling.

He forecast that just under half of the 26 million shopping visits to Newry this year would be made by shoppers from the Republic, a number expected to grow with the impending arrival of two british chain stores.

The current meat factory at Greenbank, the Abbey School playing fields which will be up for sale next year; and sites on the Belfast road, have all been pin pointed as possible locations.

Mr O'Hare has previously drawn the wrath of the Irish government for luring hundreds of thousands of southern shoppers across the border, damaging the irish economy.

Senior ministers, including finance minister Brian Lenihan and tánaiste Mary Coughlan, said it was unpatriotic for southern shoppers to spend their money in the north because the VAT goes to the British exchequer, not to the government.

But Mr O'Hare has hit back at the ministers, calling the comments "disgraceful". He accused ministers of hiding behind the so-called 'Newry Effect', to distract voters from action they needed to take to lower taxes and make the Republic competitive again.

Mr O'Hare said he plans to publish a price survey this week comparing prices in Newry with those in the Republic and countries across the continent to show that it cross-border shoppers are forced to shop inthe north by over-prices goods in the republic.

"Prices are more or less the same for groceries and fashion across Europe everywhere, but not in the Republic, where they are higher," he said.

"It is a cocktail of problems including higher VAT and duties and because inflation over the last ten years has not been tackled in the South."