Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The state of Northern Ireland was set up more than 100 years ago. In the expert opinion of the witnesses, was that state created to fail? I ask because Northern Ireland has not thrived in the way that it should have, particularly as it was the capital of industry and the best performing area on this island. I imagine that people thought that we would never cope down here by ourselves. We thought that the Boundary Commission would change the situation and that a place called Northern Ireland would never continue. However, it now 100 years later and at every passing decade, we see worse outcomes for people. Do the witnesses think that Northern Ireland was an economic state that was not meant to succeed?