Is Northern Ireland dramatically poorer than the Republic?
Before Ireland was partitioned in 1921, the six counties that were to become Northern Ireland were the powerhouse of the Irish economy. Two thirds of Ireland’s manufacturing capacity was in the six counties, Belfast was Ireland’s largest city, and the economy was focused on high value manufacturing, unlike the largely agricultural economy in the rest of the island. Today, the economic situation in the two jurisdictions has flipped. The Republic of Ireland is now one of the world’s richest countries …