Slugger points us to a very significant speech by Sir Kenneth Bloomfield at the Merriman Summer School in Lisdoonvarna, former head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, in which he raises some practical questions about the possibility of a united Ireland:
some fundamental questions remain unanswered or even unaddressed. What would be the costs falling to be borne by the Irish Exchequer in the event of a pattern of Irish unity guaranteeing no reduction in the standard of services and benefits in Northern Ireland? Would the consequence of such a guarantee be an increase in the burden of taxation currently borne by taxpayers in the Republic, and an increase from British tax levels in the North? Or would there have to be recourse to substantial borrowing for an extended transitional period? Would the British government of the day, in light of shedding a continuing indefinite burden, ease the transition by some kind of tapering "dowry"? (I may say that I heard this canvassed at a conference years ago, and drawing gales of sceptical laughter from a very senior English bureaucrat). If these costs were fully investigated and openly revealed, would all those concerned be willing to meet them? We have before us, I would remind you, the history of Germany since the removal of the Wall and the collapse of communism. The assimilation of the former DDR has proved neither easy nor inexpensive. (ireland.com)
One doesn't get the sense that Bloomfield is raising this and other questions simply as an argument for the status quo, although he makes it clear he's quite comfortable with the current devolution settlement. These are exactly the kind of issues that will have to be addressed to make a united Ireland a realistic prospect.
