A chara – Nigel Farage strikes a bum note when he states that the people of Britain struck for their freedom last year in the Brexit referendum, "100 years on from 1916" ("Ireland should remember who its real friends are when Brexit comes", Opinion & Analysis, May 5th).
The Easter Rising of 1916 was indeed a strike for national freedom but, under the influence of Roger Casement, it was also an action in sympathy with Germany and “European civilisation”. Casement is the father of Irish foreign policy and his writings on the diplomatic machinations that led to the Great War gave the 1916 leaders their orientation in international affairs. This is expressed in the sacred script of Irish nationalism, the Proclamation, in the reference to “gallant allies in Europe”.
Membership of what became the EU afforded Ireland the opportunity to escape an exploitative dependence on the British market. The net gain to the economy from EU funds over the years has been €44 billion and that is without mentioning the far greater gains that have come from foreign direct investment directed at the EU market. Yet Irish membership has always been "a political end in itself" addressing "more than a problem in mercantile arithmetic" to borrow phrases from a German journalist (Ludwig Gelder of Die Welt) writing in September 1962, having been briefed by Irish officials.
In today’s world the pursuit of national independence in isolation from our partners in Europe would simply lead to an increased dependence on international capital and a return to the previous relationship with Britain. Admittedly there are aspects of the EU architecture, especially relating to the now discredited doctrine of economic liberalism, that require reform, but in the past the European Union has overcome major challenges and the omens are good that it will overcome the present malaise.
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Nigel Farage would like to see the European project torn asunder; Ireland should be to the fore in making sure that doesn’t happen. – Yours, etc,
DAVE ALVEY,
Irish Political Review Group,
Bray, Co Wicklow.