FINANCIAL TIMES: A united Ireland? There are too many problems

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Much as many would like to see a united Ireland one day, David McWilliams presents far too rosy a view about the current possibilities in “ The final frontier” (Life & Arts, December 1).

Let’s look at what the Irish Central Statistical Office has to say. In most countries, gross domestic product is very close to gross national income (which strips out the profits that multinationals make and which are repatriated). GNI is conspicuous by its absence in Mr McWilliams’s article. In the EU, Ireland is an exception in the mismatch between GDP and GNI. Ireland has an unusually high, if not uniquely high, number of foreign-owned businesses because they pay very low corporation tax (for example, Apple). The problem is, the profits leave Ireland and do not contribute to the wealth of the country.