Sir, – David McWilliams in a perceptive review questions whether the Republic could "absorb the North economically" ("Northern Ireland and the TripAdvisor index of economic vibrancy", Analysis, December 2nd).
But those of us hoping (like Simon Coveney) for a united Ireland don’t see it in terms of maintaining the North’s condition of basket-case dependency. We see it in terms of an economy (and society) greater than the sum of its present sundered parts. Add in a withdrawal of British funding phased over 25 or 30 years, all-Ireland EU membership and two benign explosions (in tourism, and in investment generated by international goodwill) and the future looks positively rosy. – Yours, etc,
CORMAC BOURKE,
Belfast,
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Co Antrim.