Forcing Ireland’s equal education system on NI middle class would be ‘unpopular’

Forcing the Irish education system's “equality of opportunity” on Northern Ireland's middle class nationalists and unionists in a united Ireland would be “very unpopular”, an economist has claimed.

John FitzGerald, adjunct professor at Trinity College Dublin, has said Northern Ireland's educational system does not offer equality of opportunity to children from different backgrounds, with “particularly damaging effects” for working-class children.

He told the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement that if Northern Ireland was to reform its education system, it would reduce the cost of a unification.

Prof FitzGerald published a report last month which estimated that the reunification of Ireland would cost around €20 billion (£16.5bn) a year for two decades.

The findings were published by the Institute of International and European Affairs.

The report took into account the current level of funding Northern Ireland receives from the British Government, as well as the share of UK national debt it presumed the province would carry into a united Ireland.

Prof FitzGerald, who co-authored the report with Edgar Morgenroth, a professor of economics at DCU Business School, spoke to the committee about Northern Ireland's educational system.

“If you think about this huge problem with the education system in Northern Ireland, we on this island, the ethos is one of equality of opportunity, whether you're from a poor agriculture background or a working-class background, you should have an equal opportunity,” he said.

“If you unify and the educational system has not been reformed in Northern Ireland, do you immediately force the Irish system on Northern Ireland, which I know will be very unpopular with middle class nationalists as well as unionists-background people.

“Or do you leave it there where there's an ethos that doesn't believe in equality of opportunity, and doesn't look after kids from disadvantaged backgrounds in Northern Ireland?”

Prof FitzGerald also said he estimated that to raise Northern Ireland welfare rates and public sector pay rates to the levels in Ireland, would cost around another 5% of national income.