A United Ireland. Opening up the discussion.

[johnnycool]

Hmmmmmm.....

https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/more-alliance-party-members-would-vote-for-irish-unity-than-to-remain-in-uk-survey/a691093736.html

I've been saying this for a while now.

Alliance is strong in mostly unionist dominated areas (MLA's) where an increasing Nationalist population are voting tactically to oust Unionist parties as well as Alliance picking up on the disillusioned unionist voters.

It was more than just unionist voters who would vote for the status quo in a border poll who are voting Alliance currently.

[Rossfan]

Get working ye lazy hoors...

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2024/0404/1441589-united-ireland/

[general_lee]

Get working ye lazy hoors...

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2024/0404/1441589-united-ireland/

The FitzGeralds, well known for their economic nous.

[Sportacus]

Get working ye lazy hoors...

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2024/0404/1441589-united-ireland/

The FitzGeralds, well known for their economic nous.

It would seem 'making Northern Ireland work' is a clever enough long term strategy by SF, but over-indexing on benefit bluffers and civil service dossers badly exposed here.

[Milltown Row2]

Surely if it was reunited then the government for the whole of the island would assimilate its best practices and eventually things like the public sector would be as efficient as the South's?

There will be for sure a 'breaking in' period, and certain funding for lots of things will have to be brought in.

Countries reuniting isn't a new thing, I'm sure there are plenty of examples, Germany being the stand out one

Anyone thinks that it will be plain sailing is living in cuckoo land

[imtommygunn]

I don't know if they were as big an economic basket case as we are though.

[johnnycool]

I don't know if they were as big an economic basket case as we are though.

East Germany?

Hugely under-developed compared to West Germany at that time so I'd suggest that the wee six, whilst still a basket case has more short term potential to turn that around quicker than East Germany who'd a far larger population that us.

[Milltown Row2]

I don't know if they were as big an economic basket case as we are though.

I thought they were worse off.. But the examples are there and not making the mistakes that may have happed. That said Germany's economic health was in a far better position than most

[imtommygunn]

We're not great but you could be right.

[johnnycool]

AN ANALYSIS by Dublin based think tank the Institute of International and European Affairs puts the potential cost of a United Ireland at between €8bn and €20bn a year.

Since WWN is a self respecting news publication you can trust we obviously led with the highest possible number in our headline. But just how exactly would the financial burden of the United Ireland hit such highs? We crunch the numbers below:

– Academics producing hypothetical studies based on speculative and pulled-from-arse data points regarding a United Ireland don't come cheap and will need to be paid frequently, and handsomely, if a United Ireland has any chance of being a success.

– Cost of flamethrowers required to burn all Nordie Tayto stock would run into the hundreds of millions.

– €260 million; ear plugs for every citizen when Ireland's Call is adopted as the official anthem of a United Ireland.

– Interpreter fees would skyrocket as civil servants north and south are forced to interact with one another.

– The increase in population would mean building an extension to the Children's Hospital, which would immediately swallow half the €20bn budget.

– A small increase of even just five in the number of additional TDs in the Dáil could cost the taxpayer €5bn in expenses claims alone.

– Deciding what to do with the additional tax revenue generated by an incoming 1.8mn people will require paying billions to consultancy firms to figure out.

– The therapy required for Jamie Bryson will be considerable and come at great cost to the newly formed State.

– If, in the event of a Sinn Féin government in the Dáil, money will be spent on paying hardline nationalists in the 26 counties to ignore the fact they're now saddled with going the £10bn the British government sends to Northern Ireland every year to plug its fiscal deficit.

– Every Irish road would have to be downgraded to match Northern Irish roads.

– Retraining obsolete fuel and contraband criminals in the border region will cost tens of millions.

– Draining Lough Neagh so its pollution is evenly spread out to the 32 counties will cost at least €4bn.

– Conjoining the HSE and the NI NHS so that their respective dysfunctions sync up would be of huge cost. That's not even taking into account the thousands of middle management positions required to make sure it's as inefficient and costly a process as humanly possible.

– Deaths from arguments over the design of the new flag could cost the state billions.

from the reputable WWN website.

 

[weareros]

Everyone wants a plan from Dublin for a UI but the biggest problem is the North has 225,000 public sector employees and 590,009 private sector while the South has 370,000 public sector and 2.3m private sector. This is not even addressing the high economic inactivity rate in North at 25%. The unemployment rate is however only 2% (a great example of joke statistics).

So well over 100,000 public sector employees in North will have to lose jobs and find a job in the private sector. Where? That will have to be in the first paragraph of Dublin's plan but no one wants to read that and there's no political will in North or GB to solve that problem.

On the plus side, the South will have a €100bn sovereign wealth fund by 2035 and the Yanks might throw in a few bob to help a smooth transition.

[Milltown Row2]

Are there typically less public sector jobs in the South or would there be private sector jobs that have been taken over by private sector companies?

Not sure if that makes sense.. been a long day lol

[armaghniac]

Everyone wants a plan from Dublin for a UI but the biggest problem is the North has 225,000 public sector employees and 590,009 private sector while the South has 370,000 public sector and 2.3m private sector. This is not even addressing the high economic inactivity rate in North at 25%. The unemployment rate is however only 2% (a great example of joke statistics).

I've often seen this statistic about extra public sector in NI. But what is unclear is where exactly these people are? Are they teachers, nurses, social workers, police, civil servants? When there is detail then we can understand what to do, all of this discussion in big totals is unhelpful. An actual detailed account of where the extra are would be a good service.

Also, public sector employment in NI will tend to decline over the next few years, there isn't the money. There is now a reasonable availability of private employment in NI, and so the public bill will decline and the income will increase a bit.

[general_lee]

Are there typically less public sector jobs in the South or would there be private sector jobs that have been taken over by private sector companies?

Not sure if that makes sense.. been a long day lol

Do NICS not outsource a lot of (low skilled) work now anyway? Or did I imagine that?

[brokencrossbar1]

Very simple situation. Don't make the f**k up that was Brexit. Get the conversation started. Make it feasible. Imagine it's buying a company that has been teetering on the brink of collapse. Put in a 'rescue' plan....'growth' plan. The money will work but before it happens things will get darker before the Dawn.  Prepare for 3-5 years of darkness and negativity but the deal will be done