Professor John FitzGerald:

That is what scares me, not as an economist, but as a citizen. If the North votes for unification and the South says it is too expensive and you have not made changes in the North, where does that leave everyone on this island? It would be massively destabilising. We should not go ahead with a referendum unless we are certain both will pass. We have seen what happens in referendums in the Republic. Otherwise, both places will be worse off.