Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »
Sat 09 Sep 2008Nationalists forget how Europe enhanced our independence
Rejecting Lisbon leaves us in danger of reverting to closer ties with an EU-detached Britain, writes Garret Fitzgerald
THE IRISH State achieved independence in 1922 and absolute sovereignty in 1931, with the reform of the structure of the Commonwealth. What our diplomacy consistently ignored, however, right up to the 1960s, was the stark reality of our continued, humiliating economic relationship with Britain, arising from our dependence on that country as the purchaser of 80 per cent of our exports. (That debilitating dependence was rubbed in by the fact that up to 1979 Irish banknotes carried notice that the denominated amount was "payable at the Bank of England".)
Choose a Subscription type - required
