In the run-up to 2016’s Brexit referendum, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) released a study estimating which bits of the Irish economy would be hit hardest, in the very, very unlikely event that the UK would vote to leave the EU. Readers probably expected a discussion about the impact of Brexit on the composition of our exports, especially on transport and agriculture. Or about the possible disruption to the integrated labour market Ireland and the UK have shared for a century. What came as a bit of a surprise to many readers was the discussion of the risk…