I remember a man giving a speech against the EU in my town, he was up on the back of a lorry. He said ” if Ireland joins the common market, your lives and your children’s lives won’t be worth living “. Definitely made an impression on my childish brain, I remember it like it was yesterday.
Fifty years since we broke our economic bind to Britain
And hopefully encouraging further integration.
I’m fairly pro-EU and very glad to be a member, could class myself as European almost as much as I’m Irish.
However, you can’t deny there have been significant problems, and I would put the blame for all of them on the Irish side of negotiations. Most importantly, for me anyway, is the fishing regulations, the demise of our seaside communities and our handling of large factory trawlers offshore when small or even large local boats don’t have a fraction of the same allowances. FFFG really really fucked over Irish fishers and have done next to nothing to compensate or secure small coastal towns from disintegrating, terribly sad when you see it a lot, but you can’t see it at all from the Dáil apparently.
Other issues I have are stuff like the CETA and Mercusor trade deals, but again, laying most of the blame on Irish politicians for these. I think I’d actually rather be ruled by Brussels than Dublin. At least then we might have some semblance of a night life industry and public transport options.
Remember, Brussels is where Irish elected politicians go to make decisions at the EU Council with the other heads of state, they set the direction of travel. The European Parliament works on the legislation to bring legal order to the strategic decisions made by the Council and the Commission implements those decisions as it is the bureaucracy (circa 30,000 full timers with a great many contractors).
Brussels does not take any decisions to rule anything. The EU machine brings life to collective decisions agreed by sovereign leaders at the EU council.
8 comments
EU membership has mostly worked out great for us
Sure didn’t they build the roads.
I remember a man giving a speech against the EU in my town, he was up on the back of a lorry. He said ” if Ireland joins the common market, your lives and your children’s lives won’t be worth living “. Definitely made an impression on my childish brain, I remember it like it was yesterday.
Fifty years since we broke our economic bind to Britain
And hopefully encouraging further integration.
I’m fairly pro-EU and very glad to be a member, could class myself as European almost as much as I’m Irish.
However, you can’t deny there have been significant problems, and I would put the blame for all of them on the Irish side of negotiations. Most importantly, for me anyway, is the fishing regulations, the demise of our seaside communities and our handling of large factory trawlers offshore when small or even large local boats don’t have a fraction of the same allowances. FFFG really really fucked over Irish fishers and have done next to nothing to compensate or secure small coastal towns from disintegrating, terribly sad when you see it a lot, but you can’t see it at all from the Dáil apparently.
Other issues I have are stuff like the CETA and Mercusor trade deals, but again, laying most of the blame on Irish politicians for these. I think I’d actually rather be ruled by Brussels than Dublin. At least then we might have some semblance of a night life industry and public transport options.
Remember, Brussels is where Irish elected politicians go to make decisions at the EU Council with the other heads of state, they set the direction of travel. The European Parliament works on the legislation to bring legal order to the strategic decisions made by the Council and the Commission implements those decisions as it is the bureaucracy (circa 30,000 full timers with a great many contractors).
Brussels does not take any decisions to rule anything. The EU machine brings life to collective decisions agreed by sovereign leaders at the EU council.
I signed up for EU Plus there last month