A united Ireland would cost €20bn every year for 20 years with 'ordinary taxpayers' footing the bill

A new report examining the logistics surrounding a united Ireland has found the expected cost to be astronomical.

The report conducted by the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) suggests the cost of supporting Northern Ireland would amount to €20 billion every year for 20 years, and this expense would require an increase of approximately 20% and/or a substantial reduction in expenditure.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, co-author of the report and co chair of the IIEA Professor John Fitzgerald said,

"To deal with the resulting deficit, which would be likely to persist for many years after unification, there would have to be a dramatic increase in taxation and/or a major reduction in expenditure south of the border.

"Even though Ireland has a much higher national income, funding the needs of the people in Northern Ireland in a united Ireland would put huge financial pressure on the people in Ireland, resulting in an immediate major reduction in their living standards.

"The solution is if Northern Ireland dramatically changes how they run their economy, in particular in the educational sphere, which would mean that the gap between the north and the south would narrow and also that their revenue would rise substantially more.

"Looking for somebody else to pay for unification is not going to happen. If it happens, we've got to pay for it ourselves."

Professor Fitzgerald also said that the ordinary taxpayer would foot the bill for unification.

"Given that the Irish Government expenditure is about 40% of national income, it would represent an increase of a quarter in Irish Government expenditure.

"To fund it", he added, "you'd need to increase taxes by the same amount, by a very large amount."

The report states that if Northern Ireland were to remain as part of the UK indefinitely, it would substantially benefit them more "in the long run".

By reforming its economy, Northern Ireland could significantly enhance its economic position within the UK and greatly improve its relative standard of living.

The report stated that the productivity gap, even under the most favourable circumstances, could take at least two decades to be significantly narrowed.