50 years and four days in the European Union today

The advances in Ireland would have occurred anyway without EU membership. Pretending otherwise is propaganda.

The country was poor due to the insular economic policies pre-Lemass. This was already changing prior to EU membership with the opening of the economy and move away from protectionism.

Like most of the other small open rich economirs in the world economies - Iceland, Singapore, Switzerland... - Ireland would as wealthy as it is now thanks to globalisation which suits us most.

I'm not saying there is no benefit to a single market. It has some benefit but be under no illusion as to where our bread is buttered and why we excel. It's not the EU or the UK, it's the US.

And guess who hates the knife that butters our bread most - the EU Commission.

Next 50 years? The way sovereignty is being systematically taken ensures there won't be another 25 years, never mind 50 years.

The only hope for the EU is to stop ever closer integration.

Our entire economic model is North Atlantic, low tax, free trade. That's the reason for this country's wealth.

The worst thing about EU propaganda (and you see it in the replies already) is that it's intention is to degrade the belief amongst the public.

The argument is essentially that, in Ireland's case, we are not capable of running our own country.

I don't believe that for a second and I think it's more than sad that this is the self-debasing rubbish our population is subjected to routinely by our media and politicians and parroted by members of the public who have been hopelessly propagandised.

It's not true today and it's never been true.

A lot of what we have today is modernity. This would have happened either way.

If we hadn't joined the EEC, we would have had to search for an apply a different economic model. Brendan Ryan, I think it was, made the claim several years back that the EEC/EC got more value back in fish from Irish waters than they put into Irish infrastructure. Whether he was right or not I cannot tell, but there is certainly an interesting discussion there.

I'm in favour of our membership because it decoupled us to some extent from our closest neighbour, although thinking in our Public Service is still very much influenced by what they do in the UK (actually in GB, or even plain old England). If GB continues to go it alone, we will see further decoupling in years to come; although curiously since Brexit occurred I get the impression that British retail has been making a big effort to keep us tied into their market area via shops such as Home Savers, Eurogiant and the like.

I’m curious to know what was the FIRST most important event? 🤔

That aside, membership of the EU has brought its advantages, and disadvantages. It’s certainly better for a tiny country like Ireland to be a member of a large international community, but for a large country like the UK, France, Germany, I think it’s far too soon to predict how things will work out for the UK in the long term, based upon the current mess they’re in.

Where do I see Ireland going over the next 50 years as an EU member? An even greater wealth gap in Irish society, an Irish Government praying for more investment from the Chinese because the Americans have left and the EU says we’re not getting any more infrastructure funding, we’re obligated to contribute to an investment in improving the infrastructure of new member countries from Eastern Europe.

Kermit, don't think you should get to state something like 1st sentence and claim an opposing view is just "propaganda" like you are an all-seeing and knowing oracle.

Membership of EEC was a part of abandoning isolationist policies, it is not some separate thing which was unconnected.

Singapore is quite useless to compare to Ireland IMO. Those other small rich European countries are all heavily involved in the EU structures/machinery you despise even if they aren't full members like us. In addition Switzerland in particular seems a poor European "control" for Ireland. It is in the middle of Western Europe, has not been a weak and poor colony of a Great Power, it has been rich and developed for a long time.

There's a contradiction also when you are blaming the "EU Commission" (or any other part of the EU) for somehow getting in the way of good business we are doing with the US MNCs in that a necessary component of our usefulness to the same MNCs is being well attached to and acting as gateway to rest of that big market esp. post Brexit.

That requires probably Single Market and Customs Union membership at a minimum. We can't just plow our own furrow in Europe like you seem to believe is possible.

Looking ahead, I am a bit pessimistic (generally - not about our EU membership!). It is a depressing looking future we are facing into, where perhaps globalisation and the sets of international rules "everyone" follows start to break down and raw power, zero sum games and interstate competition right up to warfare again become more important.

This environment may not be kind to small states totally out on their own. Europe is full of such very small and medium sized states. They get relatively smaller and weaker every year as both the populations and economic importance and power of the "non European" parts of the world rise. They are perhaps going to need to stick together (ever!) more closely in future during this century when dealing with the RotW like it or not (and I know you won't, going by posts!), needs must when the devil drives.

I was just about to mention the Catholic Church incidentally. The whole attitude in a good chunk of Irish society today towards the EU mirrors the unquestioning devotion and acceptance of the Catholic Church in the middle of the last century.

This is really unhealthy.

The main beneficiaries of the EU are the politicians. Plenty more jobs for them.

I don't believe that to be true. You only have to look at your own soapboxing on this.

EU membership has been overwhelmingly positive for the country and it's citizens. While there have been some drawbacks.

Without the EU we don't get the globalisation benefits.

Ok I was way off, I was thinking either marriage equality, or Riverdance 😂

Ah the tolerance of the Irish eh, a sight to behold!!!

And if the people if the UK successfully lobby their politicians to offer an other referendum to rejoin the EU will you accept the result of it? Or will you spit insults at the ordinary people of the UK like so many on here do depending on which way they vote!

We can?? Didn't we have to run a few EU referendums over again until we got the right answer in the not too distant past.

There is no serious movement to do so thankfully that been said.

I don't think anyone who has a grasp of Irish history would suggest we leave the EU...we aren't capable of self governance, we aren't like other normal nations.

Sausage rhetoric?????

I'm as pro EU as you can get, not for one second would I consider voting to leave the EU...your hostility to my opinion is a bit odd tho...another tolerant Irish person no doubt!!!!

But why didn't it happen all those times you said it was imminent ?

You often gave exact dates. Keep dreaming the Irexit dream buddy while the rest of the country gets on with living with the enormous benefits of membership.

It's really touched a nerve...were we some well run state previous to joining the EU that I am unaware of?? Because surely we can agree, this country was backward until the 70s.

It's an important part of a democratic society that it learns from past mistakes and allows the space to learn, that means allowing different voices, views, opinions, not like the suffocating political, social and media atmosphere that existed up until a few short decades ago!!

Where as you just think people who don't think like you are stupid.

I know Irish history, I won't forget the basket case we were even if others do!!

this is factually incorrect and there would be no reason for this to ever be the case, simply a bad attempt at scaremongering that has been destroyed.

No excuse, but politics in Ireland is not uniquely corrupt, or uniquely vulnerable to the disease of corruption. Saying "we can't govern ourselves" is just untrue, and is not really expected to be taken as honest criticism is it?

Anyway, over my time mostly reading and lurking here (+ sometimes posting/arguing) I have obseved that most of the anti-EU posters in this forum who usually think Ireland's membership is a bad job and deploy the successful (in UK!) Brexit referendum "sovereignty" + "freedom" arguments etc. against it seem to be either British, or perhaps from NI and have right wing political views (though I suppose they could be living in Ireland).

I don't think they are the correct people to be making judgements on Ireland's EU membership or the benefits of it for this country, or at least what they think should be taken with a large mine of salt by people reading it.