The Irish historian Diarmaid Ferriter (2004) has suggested a more complex tradeoff; the debt obligation was removed from the Free State along with non-publication of the report, in return for the Free State dropping its claim to rule some Catholic/nationalist areas of Northern Ireland. Each side could then blame the other side for the outcome. W. T. Cosgrave admitted that the security of the Catholic minority depended on the goodwill of their neighbours. The economist John Fitzgerald (2017) argued that writing off the share of the UK debt in one transaction was also considerably better than servicing its costs for an unlimited time into the future, as stipulated by the treaty. The effect would be to sever an unwelcome and burdensome link between Britain and the Free State, thereby enhancing Irish independence. Irish debt-to-GNP fell from 90% to 10%.