With the South in freefall, would you vote for united Ireland now?

[Talvisota]

With the South in freefall, would you vote for united Ireland now?

Monday, 9 February 2009

What price a united Ireland now? With every passing day of the credit crunch, it is a question which you might well ask.

Time was when even the most diehard unionist must have doubted how long Northern Ireland could remain within the United Kingdom. Those were the days, not so long ago, when we looked enviously southwards at the breath-taking wealth of the Republic.

All we could see were new millionaires and billionaires a plenty. A property boom everywhere. Motorways to match the best in Europe. Irish banks overflowing with profits. A small island state hit by a seemingly unstoppable tide of good fortune.

Look south now my friends and what do you see? The Celtic Tiger, having roared across the 26 counties and stood rampant at the gates of Ulster, is lost in the bogland of the recession. Celebrations of wealth have been replaced with an economic wake.

“The public coffers have been emptied, the developers and the banks are bust, and trade unions have little to offer. The game is up ? ” said Enda Kenny, the Fine Gael leader this week.

Full article here:
With the South in freefall, would you vote for united Ireland now? - Ed Curran, Columnists - Belfasttelegraph.co.uk

[Duth Ealla]

With the UK in free fall would you vote to rejoin Ireland-sth who seem to be marginally less fupped.

The thing is though who cares whether the north makes up its mind soon or not because the real question is:
Will Scotland leave the UK?

The answer to that will determine whether the next question will be:

(a) Will the north leave the UK; or

(b) will the uk leave the north.

[meriwether2]

As bad as things are down here, we'e better off than NI.


NI's economy primarily consists of civil service jobs which were created to keep it afloat when the economy was being blown to bits by Fertiliser bombs.

I can only think of one liisted Northern Company - Andor PLC, on the LAIM.

Are there anymore?

[Seánod]

Yes, definitely.

[McGyver]

Other listed firms include UTV and First Derivatives

[Mazzy Maz]

If (when?) this recession results in the "mainland" turning off the free money tap to Northern Ireland, then the Republic won't look like such a bad place to be.

[odie1kanobe]

Question those in NI feeling smug need to start considering is given their biggest trading partner is in recession that what future holds for it.

NI is of no economic value to London and pretty much no political value.

Rather than look south it needs to ask what the future holds for it.

London is going to spend money on English jobs first and be not surprised when the cutbacks come.

[FutureTaoiseach]

Typical Unionist gloating. I regard a United Ireland as a very long-term aspiration. The underlying reality is that the South remains wealthier than the North, and that as a Unionist publication, the BT was not exactly chomping at the bit for Ireland to be reunited. I do believe though that for a UI to be economically viable in the longterm, the Northern public-sector will have to be privatised and rationalised. When we had the Celtic Tiger, a partitionist minority element in the South (largely FGers) continued to argue that reunification was not economically-practical (not that they would have supported it if it were). An important point to recognise is that all recessions (except in Mugabe-type banana republics) eventually come to an end, and this is no exception. I believe that the recession has opened some eyes to the unsustainability of our bloated public-sector, and that in the long-term, this will lead to its rationalisation. The Northern public-sector also requires rationalisation, and that provided that happens and good times return in the South (which will eventually happen), a UI is an economically viable proposition in the longterm.

[meriwether2]

Other listed firms include UTV and First Derivatives

Of course.

Id thank you for the post, but I dont know how!

[Talvisota]

I regard a United Ireland as a very long-term aspiration.

It's been almost a century already. How much long do you think this can wait? As far as I'm concerned we missed the boat on that a long time ago. At one point I'd like to have seen a UI but not anymore. Northern Ireland is very "Ulsterized" at this stage, theres too much, on both sides of the border, that won't even gel properly together. It's not too much unlike trying to unify Palestine and Israel. I'd prefer us all to accept what is and do our best to get along as neighbours with close North-South links (aswell as East-West links).