McGuinness at ESRI criticises analysis of cost of united Ireland

ESRI economics professor Seamus McGuinness says paper by TCD and DCU academics ignores 'fundamental facts' about the North

McArt's Fort above Belfast City. File picture: John G O'Dwyer

An analysis by two prominent economists on the potential high costs of a united Ireland has been criticised by Seamus McGuinness, an economics professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), as being unrealistic in terms of the way constitutional change would unfold.

The analysis for the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) in Dublin by John FitzGerald, adjunct professor at TCD, and Edgar Morgenroth, professor of economics at DCU Business School, examines the potential size of the subvention to support the Northern Ireland budget and how it might be affected under a united Ireland.