Below is the text of my letter to the Irish Times. By way of explanation I contacted NTMA so I know this could work! NTMA work with government and finance raised goes to central government fund, therefore it only requires government commitment to raise specific fund for the specific tasks in the letter.
As the conversations about a border poll and potential Irish unity grow in number and deepen in substance, could I make the following proposals to help the preparation of the case for unity?
The Irish government should, in conjunction with the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), announce their intention to issue two bonds as follows. Firstly, one to fund the establishment and immediate running of an Ireland-wide health service that provides free at the point of use care.
Secondly, a bond that funds a five year plan to introduce an Ireland-wide education system that includes the best from both current systems plus much needed reform for our 21st century needs.
I have no doubt that local and diaspora investors would, given the context and targeted nature of such bonds, keenly support these issues.
It would be extremely informative to the unity debate if the Government also outlined, again with the NTMA, how potential projects and plans could be facilitated by both the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) and the European Investment Bank (EIB). Both the ISIF and the EIB are significant sources of longer term investments and could potentially be important to the country’s continuing development in the context of unity.
It is vital that substantive planning underpins our approach to a border poll and I think the above proposals make a contribution.
Yours
Dr. Billy Leonard
Former MLA & author of Towards a United Ireland
Kilkee, Co Clare
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