50 years and four days in the European Union today

It's unfortunate that there are a few who somehow think that EU membership has been an overall negative experience for Ireland and leaving the EU would be a positive step.

What exactly are these people on? Are they the same kind of people who believe the earth is flat?

There has to be some level of either:

-Lack of education.

-Being obtuse for the sake of it.

involved in their viewpoints. There's absolutely NO WAY this country would be where it is without EU membership, we would be a damn sight worse off.

Yeah, it's not all a bed of roses but christ look at the evidence in front of you!

It's probably fair to say that it was US investment which actually transformed Ireland, while the 12.5% corporate tax rate and the EU was vital in facilitating that investment through tax incentives, the single market and infrastructure development.

So it depends which you think is more important, the facilitation (EU) or the actual driver of change (US investment).

Remember that the 1980's, while we were firmly in the EU, was one of the worst times economically in the history of the State. While the 1960's, when we were outside, was boomtime.

I'm not critical of the EU, it is obviously beneficial to Ireland, but it's important not to assign 100% of the weight to it as the factor that transformed Ireland. It's more like 35%.

Oh good god! It is not apples and oranges Dyr. 1 is 1 and 2 is 2. A percentage is a percentage end of story, to say otherwise is utter bullshit.

Once again it is not, the EU is. As a single country the US but but the EU is our biggest market. You have also deliberately refused to address how Ireland would trade with the UK and US from outside the EU, but like Aaron Banks and Nigel Farrage you have no interest in fact Dyr.

Ireland did not trade happily with the UK or the US prior to entry to the EU Dyr, you are displaying remarkable ignorance. Ireland was bullied and abused by both the UK and the US in trade in the 50 years prior to the EU. Our whiskey industry was destroyed by the US in preference to the UK whiskey industry and our economy was utterly wrecked in a trade war with the UK.

The falseholds you are using are either deliberate or more likely given the ignorance in face of fact I suspect you are not as you claim Irish at all. How else does an Irish person live in ignorance of that fact that we were a net 40 billion net beneficiary of EU funds or how is an Irish person unaware of the UK-Irish trade war?

Ha, of course they (Tory Brexiteers) are not fanatics as regards their opinions of the EU and relations with member states incl. Ireland when you agree with them eh?

Let's just stick with present day European politics, not WW2 and pre WW2 and Doughty Britain's "finest hour" standing up to the fascists yet again (yawn).

Anyway the invisible hand gave a right good slappping to their darling PM Liz Truss when she tried to put the loons economic ideas into practice, and some sanity has returned for however long it lasts, so the Irish govt. have their hopes high.

EU challenged and lost Apples corporate tax.

However in regard to VRT I would full support you! The body that needs to be challenged on this however is not the EU, it is the Irish government.

The EU did challenge Irish VRT and found it against the spirit of the rules , they did use a more technical term.

But it's not an illegal tax, it's a registration tax to enable the car be legally driven on the roads. Technically it doesn't hamper free trade. We're also not the only country in the EU who pays a registration tax.

Not that I agree with VRT though and the crazy way it's calculated, but that's for another thread.