The Democratic Unionist Party leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, has said the talks process, which his party is boycotting, is "dead in the water" and that the concept of an all-Ireland economy is false and dangerous to the North's prosperity.
At a Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce lunch in Belfast yesterday Dr Paisley predicted the demise of the Celtic Tiger economy and "the tiger's tail might be knotted" when EU grants were stopped.
He claimed the Republic was getting £6 million a day in EU aid "coming from my pocket and yours". He said the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, had no interest in seeing the North's economy flourish, because "it would be at the expense of his own".
On recent takeovers in the North by Southern companies he said: "Instead of Irish businesses taking over Ulster businesses, Ulster businesses should be taking over Irish businesses."