Editing Irish Civil War (section)

===Economic costs===
The economic costs of the war were also high. As their forces abandoned their fixed positions in July–August 1922, the Republicans burned many of the administrative buildings and businesses that they had been occupying. In addition, their subsequent guerrilla campaign caused much destruction, and the economy of the Free State suffered a hard blow in the earliest days of its existence, as a result. The material damage caused by the war to property in the Free State has been estimated to be in the region of £50 million in 1922.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McElhatton |first=Shane |date=2022-06-28 |title=100 years since beginning of Irish Civil War |url=https://www.rte.ie/news/2022/0627/1307135-civil-war-centenary/ |work=RTÉ |access-date=29 June 2022 |archive-date=29 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629184026/https://www.rte.ie/news/2022/0627/1307135-civil-war-centenary/ |url-status=live }}</ref> This is equivalent to about £2.2 billion, or €2.6 billion worth of damage in 2024 values.

Particularly damaging to the Free State's economy was the systematic destruction of railway infrastructure and roads by the Republicans. In addition, the cost to the Free State of waging the war came to another £17 million (£718m or €883m in 2022 values). By September 1923, Deputy Hogan estimated the cost at £50 million.<ref>{{cite web | title=Dáil Éireann - Volume 5 - 19 September, 1923 - The Adjournment.—Position of Anti-Treaty Deputies. | website=historical-debates.oireachtas.ie | date=2011-06-07 | url=http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0005/D.0005.192309190009.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607140928/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0005/D.0005.192309190009.html | archive-date=7 June 2011 | url-status=dead | access-date=2019-08-24}}</ref> The new State ended 1923 with a budget deficit of over £4 million (£168m or €196m in 2022 values).{{sfn | Hopkinson | 1988 | p=273}} This weakened financial situation meant that the new state could not pay its share of Imperial debt under the treaty. This adversely affected the [[Boundary Commission (Ireland)|boundary negotiations]] in 1924–25, in which the Free State government acquiesced that border with Northern Ireland would remain unchanged in exchange for forgiveness of the Imperial debt. Further, the state undertook to pay for damage caused to property between the truce of July 1921 and the end of the Civil War; W. T. Cosgrave told the Dáil:

{{Blockquote|Every Deputy in this House is aware of the complaint which has been made that the measure of compensation for post-Truce damage compares unfavourably with the awards for damage suffered pre-Truce.<ref>{{cite web | title=Dáil Éireann - Volume 13 - 07 December, 1925 - Treaty (Confirmation of Amending Agreement) Bill, 1925. | page=1313 | website=historical-debates.oireachtas.ie | url=http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0013/D.0013.192512070003.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607082625/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0013/D.0013.192512070003.html | archive-date=7 June 2011 | url-status=dead | access-date=2019-08-24}}</ref>}}