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Comment by donohoe | Hacker News Reader

>> Northern Ireland should just pull out of the UK already and the whole island can return to being Ireland

From what I recall, NI is not in a position to fund itself without UK assistance. Ireland would have to foot that.

The bigger issue is that such a move (a united Ireland) would spark a new round of terrorism and instability.

OK I don't disagree that an independent NI is a slightly strange proposition that may make less sense and have less support than other European independence movements. However people frequently tout the "<region> runs at a deficit, therefore it cannot be independent" argument. Basically the vast majority of the developed world runs a deficit including the two countries we're talking about here (UK and Ireland) and large diverse non-EU economies (USA, Japan, France) as well as medium-to-small Western/Northern European countries (Finland, Sweden, Netherlands, Luxembourg) which are otherwise considered successful or desirable. There's probably very good arguments to be made either way but I don't think this is one of them.

It is my understanding that a large percentage of NI are employed in the UK civil service. The ROI is simply not in a position to provide the same, so they would become unemployed. Its not so much that it does or doesn't run at a deficit, its that it would be a major cost to ROI when ROI already is still dealing with its own financial problems and people are already unhappy about the additional taxes and charges the government keep trying to introduce.

> However people frequently tout the "<region> runs at a deficit, therefore it cannot be independent" argument.

An argument frequently trumpeted by the No campaign in 2014 during the Scottish Independence debate with their unionist press lackeys trotting out the same tired old "too wee, too poor, too stupid" articles that were debunked time and time again.

Deficits aside, economically speaking. these people have no imagination. Who's to say Scotland would continue with the same ruinous economic policies as implemented by Westminster, our priorities are somewhat different.

There has been much talk of a big cut in that assistance - it is being seriously discussed now. Plus the setback in UI and cross-border job opportunities by a hard border. Combined, this will flame hardline republican sentiment (left of Sinn Fein), as well as loyalist discontent with setbacks. This would cause increased military presence from England, which would add more fuel to the flames, and things could easily spiral back into violence once again. Historically, these things tend to flame up every few decades in Ireland.

From a British perspective - at least they'd be angry at someone that wasn't us?

Once Scotland goes, NI should be a near certainty to follow - leaving us and probably Wales (who seem to have a better grasp on the costs of needing to balance the books alone).

> Wales (who seem to have a better grasp on the costs of needing to balance the books alone).

Ahem. Wales is a net beneficiary of the EU to the tune of hundred of millions of pounds per year and they voted for Brexit. Something tells me the Tories in Westminster won't exactly be tripping over themselves to send a ton of more cash to the valleys with a potential economic downturn on the horizon due to Brexit.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/27/wales-...

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