In case anybody is still interested in the topic of this thread, it was reported on BBC Breakfast News today that Mainland Britain has a trade surplus situation, vis-a-vis Eire, of approximately £7 billion per annum, so, far from taking money from our poor to subsidise the Irish economy, it would appear that we are returning this year's profits as a loan, in order to protect the profits of future years, in the full expectation that this will also enable the repayment of the loan in due course.

Seems a reasonable bargain to me.

Don T.