Professor John FitzGerald:

In negotiation, one needs to remember Scotland. Scotland is an awful lot bigger than Northern Ireland. It has pondered independence and it will be an issue for the foreseeable future in Scotland. In any negotiation with the United Kingdom, it must be remembered that the United Kingdom faces the much more difficult prospect of Scottish independence. Any deal for Northern Ireland could encourage that and would certainly set a precedent for it. One needs to remember that is what the UK negotiating position would be.

The other thing is that if people on this island wanted unification, we would want to see the reforms made in Northern Ireland first. You cannot have people in the Republic saying, “We will take you but you will have to do the following.” That would not go down well in Northern Ireland and it would not be good for a future united Ireland. Northern Ireland has to make the changes. It has to reallocate investment into infrastructure and it has to reform its educational system. If that happens, the costs over time fall very significantly. That Northern Ireland does it for itself is more important than any negotiations with the UK Government.