The economic developments now occurring in Ireland， and more<br > generally Europe， raise difficult questions and challenge many long-<br > held beliefs. Discussion of these issues has been rather limited up to<br > now， especially in Northern Ireland， but over the coming years the<br > debate is certain to intensify. Ronnie Munck s book， The Irish<br > Economy: Results and Prospects， is a valuable contribution to this<br > debate. Its author is well-versed in Third World theories of economic<br > development， such as dependency theory， and he uses this knowledge<br > to explore the economic history of Ireland and analyse the problems<br >now facing the island. This makes the book unusual in both approach<br >and sweep， and for this reason alone it is valuable. The author writes<br >from a radical perspective， but he is undogmatic and the general tenor<br >of the book is open-minded. This book should be useful to anyone<br >seriously interested in the Irish economy no matter what their political<br >views. I have certainly enjoyed reading it and I am sure others will too.<br > The partition of Ireland occurred seventy years ago. This event<br >damaged the economy of the island and inhibited future development.<br >It disrupted trade flows between North and South and weakened the<br >already somewhat tenuous economic links between the two regions.<br >More fundamentally， partition cemented political divisions in Ireland<br >and prevented the formation of a sense of common purpose and<br >determination to overcome the island s economic backwardness.<br > The two parts of Ireland have been affected somewhat differently， by<br >partition. In its early years， the economic development of the South was<br >inhibited by its separation from the industrially more advanced North，<br >whose skilled workforce and entrepreneurs could have contributed a<br >great deal to a united Ireland. For its part， the North has suffered because<br >of its overdependence on Britain， which in recent years has brought<br >considerable benefit in the form of financial subsidies， but has<br >simultaneously reduced the region s capacity for self-sustaining econ-<br >omic development. Personal incomes and the standard of living are， on<br >