http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/mary-dejevsky/mary-dejevsky-sell-ulster-and-earn-a-peace-bonus-2063081.html

caughtredhanded (Tyrone) - Posts: 602 - 30/08/2010 12:58:28    760026

What about a player exhange? The North for West Britland (D4) and Mayo.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9840 - 30/08/2010 13:04:56    760043

Great article.

Scruffy2Donut (Cavan) - Posts: 1112 - 30/08/2010 13:11:07    760056

Interesting article, I do believe this type of thinking will become more and more prevalent as time moves on.

Goodfella, Tir (None) - Posts: 1652 - 31/08/2010 10:17:19    760963

£9,300,000,000 net cost to the exchequer!

Approx. 2m people in employment in Ireland, with about 700,000 of those earning less than 20,000 Euro, so they are not going to have too much spare.
So the other 1.3m will cover the bill.
Thats only 7150 Euro each per year for a united Ireland!! It makes total financial sense does'nt it?

Corrxxx (Kerry) - Posts: 584 - 31/08/2010 11:55:00    761095

Corrxxx
County: Kerry
Posts: 161

761095
£9,300,000,000 net cost to the exchequer!

Approx. 2m people in employment in Ireland, with about 700,000 of those earning less than 20,000 Euro, so they are not going to have too much spare.
So the other 1.3m will cover the bill.
Thats only 7150 Euro each per year for a united Ireland!! It makes total financial sense does'nt it?

9.3bn is only about 25% of our GDP in a good financial year. If we stopped spending on capital projects for just 12 months we could cover it easily. And by the way, the cost of buying the northern part of our national territory costs about 20bn euro less than to buy anglo irish bank.

Scruffy2Donut (Cavan) - Posts: 1112 - 31/08/2010 15:17:20    761454

Scruffy,

If we drop Anglo we could buy Scotland and Wales too and have the English nearly surrounded !!

Cavan_Slasher (Cavan) - Posts: 10253 - 31/08/2010 15:55:38    761520

It's only a matter of time before the island is united: Then Ireland can take her place as a great nation!

Bigapple (Kerry) - Posts: 495 - 31/08/2010 17:52:02    761710

You can drive from Belfast to Cork in 4 hours now so that makes a mockery of two states. Ireland should be one nation under one flag encorporating all faiths and none. Most of the Protestant people living in the South would remain there given a choice and opt for their Irish identity over British. Furthermore more and more Unionists are embracing their Irishness and are applying for Irish passports. Many of the holiday homes in Donegal are owned by Northern Unionists.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9840 - 31/08/2010 18:38:54    761782

Scruffy2Donut
County: Cavan
Posts: 817

761454 Corrxxx
County: Kerry
Posts: 161

761095
£9,300,000,000 net cost to the exchequer!

Approx. 2m people in employment in Ireland, with about 700,000 of those earning less than 20,000 Euro, so they are not going to have too much spare.
So the other 1.3m will cover the bill.
Thats only 7150 Euro each per year for a united Ireland!! It makes total financial sense does'nt it?

9.3bn is only about 25% of our GDP in a good financial year. If we stopped spending on capital projects for just 12 months we could cover it easily. And by the way, the cost of buying the northern part of our national territory costs about 20bn euro less than to buy anglo irish bank.

Scruffy, firstly the biggest hole in your arguement, is that the figure of 9.3bn is a cost per year, not a once off figure. Thats how much it costs the UK EVERY year.

Secondly Scruffy the Irish government, in a mid term review of the NDP this year, cut capital spending on 40 major road and rail projects from €39.6 to €22.9bn over the next 4 years, and that wasnt put aside to pay for the 32 county dream, that was because they didnt even have the money.
The money that is left for these projects has a huge role to play in maintaining the 70,000 or so people working on these projects already in employment and avoid adding to the 450,000 people already on the dole. The Government's own growth forecasts of more than 3.3pc in 2011 and more than 4pc for the following three years are based on (min.) capital expenditure of €5.5bn every year until 2014. So I dont think scrapping the reduced €5.5bn a year they have earmarked for capital projects is practical and definitely will not cover the cost of the north year on year.
And as for the Anglo/Nama debate and their associated costs dont for a second assume if we chose not to prop up these doomed institutions that everything would all of a sudden be perfect and there would be €25bn lying around for the purchase of the north. Its been estimated that the cost of liquidating Anglo could be anywhere between €27 and €35bn. Also the collapse of a national bank would have serious effect on international confidence in our country and on our ability to secure finance to prop up our national debt. Whatever you think of the bailout of anglo its only a choice between bad and worse.

Corrxxx (Kerry) - Posts: 584 - 01/09/2010 16:12:16    762635

buy six get twenty six free

hipster (Dublin) - Posts: 2509 - 01/09/2010 16:16:07    762643

Ulsterman
County: Antrim
Posts: 2512

761782 You can drive from Belfast to Cork in 4 hours now so that makes a mockery of two states.
Many of the holiday homes in Donegal are owned by Northern Unionists.

What a piece of logic. I have to admire you Ulsterman. Genius! but does that also mean

You can drive from Mels in Switzerland through Liechtenstein and Austria to Sonthofen in Germany in 2hrs16mins. That makes a mockery of 4 separate states, doesnt it?
Many of the holiday homes in Spain are owned by Irish nationalists. Anyone advocating we's all be happy to become Spanish if push came to shove.

Corrxxx (Kerry) - Posts: 584 - 01/09/2010 16:43:25    762680

Corrxxx
County: Kerry
Posts: 185

762635 Scruffy2Donut
County: Cavan
Posts: 817

761454 Corrxxx
County: Kerry
Posts: 161

761095
£9,300,000,000 net cost to the exchequer!

Approx. 2m people in employment in Ireland, with about 700,000 of those earning less than 20,000 Euro, so they are not going to have too much spare.
So the other 1.3m will cover the bill.
Thats only 7150 Euro each per year for a united Ireland!! It makes total financial sense does'nt it?

9.3bn is only about 25% of our GDP in a good financial year. If we stopped spending on capital projects for just 12 months we could cover it easily. And by the way, the cost of buying the northern part of our national territory costs about 20bn euro less than to buy anglo irish bank.

Scruffy, firstly the biggest hole in your arguement, is that the figure of 9.3bn is a cost per year, not a once off figure. Thats how much it costs the UK EVERY year.

Secondly Scruffy the Irish government, in a mid term review of the NDP this year, cut capital spending on 40 major road and rail projects from €39.6 to €22.9bn over the next 4 years, and that wasnt put aside to pay for the 32 county dream, that was because they didnt even have the money.
The money that is left for these projects has a huge role to play in maintaining the 70,000 or so people working on these projects already in employment and avoid adding to the 450,000 people already on the dole. The Government's own growth forecasts of more than 3.3pc in 2011 and more than 4pc for the following three years are based on (min.) capital expenditure of €5.5bn every year until 2014. So I dont think scrapping the reduced €5.5bn a year they have earmarked for capital projects is practical and definitely will not cover the cost of the north year on year.
And as for the Anglo/Nama debate and their associated costs dont for a second assume if we chose not to prop up these doomed institutions that everything would all of a sudden be perfect and there would be €25bn lying around for the purchase of the north. Its been estimated that the cost of liquidating Anglo could be anywhere between €27 and €35bn. Also the collapse of a national bank would have serious effect on international confidence in our country and on our ability to secure finance to prop up our national debt. Whatever you think of the bailout of anglo its only a choice between bad and worse.
01/09/2010 16:16:07





I suppose there were plenty of mercenaries who argued against leaving the empire.

northpole (Derry) - Posts: 739 - 01/09/2010 17:57:00    762791

northpole
County: Derry
Posts: 680

I suppose there were plenty of mercenaries who argued against leaving the empire.

Well done north pole. Another one of these retorts full of well thought out suggestions and alternate proposals for how it can be done.
People who think that the country cant afford it must be greedy, self absorbed, partionist mercenaries right? You'll have to sell the concept to the people of the republic, and a pro side that consists of a 1 page, 1line manifesto "because it should be" wont sell it. I want someone to tell us how it can be done and how we can afford it. Not just some Sinn Fein soundbyte.

Corrxxx (Kerry) - Posts: 584 - 02/09/2010 09:39:44    763096

Pointless debate. What's the point in all the agro. You might as well discuss how much the moon would cost. It isn't going to happen.

RoverTin (Derry) - Posts: 230 - 02/09/2010 11:10:57    763162

Interesting article but as has been pointed out even if Britain just 'gave' N.I. away the Irish couldn't afford it. So not only would they have to give it away but they'd have to heavily subsidise it for years to come which makes it extremely unlikely

pplocal (Tyrone) - Posts: 5878 - 02/09/2010 11:38:03    763194

Let's make it 10 billion for the sake of argument.

UK pay 8 B of it for 5 years. 2015-2020.
UK pay 5 B of it for a further 5 years. 2020 - 2025.
UK pay 2 B of it for a further 5 years. 2025 - 2030.
Ireland picks up the balance.

I'm just trying to be creative and find a solution. I think, as many here have pointed out, unionists seem to be mellowing. I don't think the security cost will stay as high as it is and was forever. I think Aver the 15 years listed above and beyond that, N ireland would be absorbed into the economy of the republic. As this article pointed out, the north needs less capital investment than say east germany. Interesting article, thought provoking.

hurlinspuds (Cork) - Posts: 1494 - 18/09/2010 13:17:49    777580

hurlinspuds
County: Cork
Posts: 439

777580 Let's make it 10 billion for the sake of argument.

UK pay 8 B of it for 5 years. 2015-2020.
UK pay 5 B of it for a further 5 years. 2020 - 2025.
UK pay 2 B of it for a further 5 years. 2025 - 2030.
Ireland picks up the balance.


We have more than enough balances to be picking up for the next 20 years..

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 18/09/2010 13:30:49    777588

hurlinspuds
County: Cork
Posts: 450

777580 Let's make it 10 billion for the sake of argument.

UK pay 8 B of it for 5 years. 2015-2020.
UK pay 5 B of it for a further 5 years. 2020 - 2025.
UK pay 2 B of it for a further 5 years. 2025 - 2030.
Ireland picks up the balance.

I'm just trying to be creative and find a solution. I think, as many here have pointed out, unionists seem to be mellowing. I don't think the security cost will stay as high as it is and was forever. I think Aver the 15 years listed above and beyond that, N ireland would be absorbed into the economy of the republic. As this article pointed out, the north needs less capital investment than say east germany. Interesting article, thought provoking.

So Brian Lenihan goes to George Osbourne, cap in hand, and says
"We're delighted you've finally given the north back but theres a small hitch. We need you to pay the majority of the bill. We think maybe £8bn would cover it for a few years, well just to start with anyway".
"I'd love to Brian old boy, but theres a bit of a global recession going on with record levels of national debt and unemployment. I'd have to bury the figures from the British public because I'll have a hard time telling them we're giving up NI but we're still paying for it for the next 15 years. Couldnt you boys pay a bit more Brian"
"Jaysus George we're having a savage recession ourselves, the banks are screwed, property is worthless, there isnt a penny available. Sure we wont need as much as West germany did, seeing as there's not as much infrastructural development needed. Go on George,be sound!

Corrxxx (Kerry) - Posts: 584 - 20/09/2010 11:25:14    778687

Sadly Corrxx some people honestly believe the British will just give N.I. away and then continue to pay for it. In fact screw the 8 billion, they should give us 800 billion so we can all live in mansions and travel around in flying cars

pplocal (Tyrone) - Posts: 5878 - 20/09/2010 12:02:38    778738