Northern Ireland's deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness, has criticised what he called the nonsensical debate about cross-border shopping.
Mr McGuinness was speaking before a meeting of the administrations from the Republic and Stormont in Derry today.
He said that - like racism and sectarianism - partitionism is one of the evils in our society.
When Mr McGuinness heard the Lord Mayor of Dublin suggest it was unpatriotic to go shopping in Newry, he said he wondered how would it go down with the people of Dublin. In his view it probably boosted the numbers of people travelling across the border.
He said we have to recognise that there are people working in one juridiction and living in the other and that there are people travelling to different parts of the island. He said many people in the North drive over the border to buy petrol, so it is a matter of swings and roundabouts.
At today's meeting, the Taoiseach also responded to the cross-border shopping question. Brian Cowen said the 30% reduction in the value of sterling was having its impact, but he agreed that there are swings and roundabouts.
In the past, trade had moved in the other direction and in the context of the current economic downturn it is is important that the two administrations try to work together to improve the situation, he said.
Mr Cowen said he never suggested that people travelling north to shop were unpatriotic, but that obviously there are local business associations and chambers of commerce who try to ensure that the customer stays as local as possible.
The Taoiseach said we live on an island and people make their choices; the important thing is that we provide the best value for money possible and deal with the cost issues that arise.
