Seanad Public Consultation Committee on the Constitutional Future of the Island of Ireland to hear from senior IMF economist who worked on German reunification

Mr Thumann worked as a senior economist at the German desk of the International Fund at the time of German reunification.  

Senator Daly said: “There are few economists in the world with the first-hand knowledge and experience of reunification and Gunther Thumann is one such individual. His experience has equipped him with the analytical understanding of the complex economic developments as they happened. In the second half of the 1990s, he had several opportunities to talk privately with Chancellor Helmut Kohl about his assessment of the politics of German Re-Unification.  I am delighted that he will be present to share his knowledge and experience with us.”  

Gunther Thumann, in his submission to the committee wrote of the challenges of Unification in Ireland in advance of his appearance in the Senate Chamber. “If, however, the political intention is to form one sovereign Irish state, the costs of unification will presumably reflect an all-Ireland agreement over the public sector goods and services to be provided in combination with agreement regarding their financing. This leaves a rather broad range of possible outcomes subject to the preferences of the Irish people. The costs of unification will be the result of a concrete, complex political process; it is unlikely that those costs can be predicted prior in the abstract. The inherent political complexity of unification is the deeper reason also for the difficulties encountered in figuring out the costs of German unification.”

The morning session will hear from young people from youth organisations Northern Ireland Youth Forum, Foroige and the National Youth Council of Ireland, while the afternoon session will hear from trade union representatives, members of the public as well as the ESRI and academics from ARINS which is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affair.

Some of the universities involved in the ARINS project include the University of Liverpool, Edinburgh University, Queens University Belfast, Trinity College Dublin and Dublin City University.  

Note to editor  Prior to the first meeting of the Committee, and mindful of the ongoing public policy debate on the issue, the safeguarding of the peace process and the future that Ireland would like to have for generations to come, the committee invited submissions from individuals, interested groups and organisations from all traditions and opinions to consider the constitutional future of the island of Ireland.