Dr. Conor Patterson:

Notwithstanding the desire of big business to remain in the EU, I agree with Mr. Burke that the very large vote for UKIP in Britain shows the risk that exists and the destabilising effect of such risk. Let us consider the implications ahead of any referendum. In that context, £1 billion in EU funding has been allocated in respect of agriculture and fishing in Northern Ireland. In addition, Structural Funds have also been allocated. A total of 60% of SMEs in the North trade into the jurisdiction of the Republic of Ireland. We must also consider the effect on the peace process and the fact that the Government in this jurisdiction and its counterpart in the UK are co-guarantors of that process. The Irish Republic would lose a key ally at the EU negotiating table if Britain were to withdraw. There is also the fact that Britain is a key trading partner for the Republic.

I refer to the cost of managing a land border, what ultimately could be an international frontier. The history of my own area is not just one of economic liberalisation post the peace process. That began in the early 1990s with the removal of customs barriers between North and South and the fact that trade could move freely up and down the A1-N1. In my view, this is the biggest geopolitical risk to this island. It speaks volumes that the Ulster Unionist Party, the Democratic Unionist Party, UKIP and the Traditional Unionist Voice, TUV, party all support an in-out referendum. Moreover, the TUV supports the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union despite what in my view are the catastrophic implications economically for the North of Ireland and the fact that from a Unionist perspective, I would have thought it would be likely to accelerate the break-up of the Union.