Cantillon: Danny McCoy sees Ireland taking the high road

Danny McCoy's reflections on the Irish implications of a British EU exit came via a half-page report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which was accompanied by editorial comment headlined "Irexit after Brexit?"

The Ibec chief suggests an Irish renunciation of the union could become inevitable in the wake of a “Brexit”. His thesis supposes big firms flee Ireland for Britain to take advantage of a more liberal trading environment once onerous EU regulations are no longer in force.

This is glaringly at odds with consensus opinion in Dublin. The core view remains that Ireland would continue to provide a vital commercial nexus with the EU if Britain leaves. For Ireland to leave the EU would also necessitate a repudiation of the euro.

The practical and political problems associated with the exit of Ireland’s main trading partner from the EU are legion. Yet the European connection would continue to be a big advantage to the State. All the more so if British-based businesses sought to maintain lines in the EU via operations here. An Irish exit would sever the crucial link. True, Ireland’s relations with Europe have been far from straightforward since the crash. For all the strain, however, it is difficult to imagine a groundswell of public support for an EU exit and more challenging still in a scenario in which this would follow a British precedent.

But the FAZ leader-writer credits McCoy, described as the lead business lobbyist of the "Green Island", with an arresting sense of reason.

This, it says, is quite the opposite of the thinking among "professional Europeans" in London, Brussels and Berlin, who see nothing but woe in the aftermath of a British exit. "This doomsday become less credible the more Brussels pushes ahead with central economic planning – and thus fails," says the FAZ.