Nothing better expresses Ireland’s 50 years in the EEC – and then the EU – than the contrast between the manner of the country’s entry and its standing today as a prosperous, socially progressive, self-confident place that it at ease with itself in the world. In truth, Ireland in those years, not on day one, but gradually as it emerged as a confident and successful independent player in its own right, found what Robert Emmet called “her place among the nations”.
From the 1957 signing of the Treaties of Rome -– involving France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium – the issue of this State’s membership and its first application to join in 1961 would be politically contingent, hostage to our relationship to our bigger neighbour -– still essentially in the UK’s shadow. And when the UK’s near-simultaneous application was twice vetoed in 1963 and 1967 by French president Charles de Gaulle, Ireland’s application went into cold storage. Everyone knew we were joined at the hip, and Dublin accepted as much.
When it came to joining in 1973, on the back of a 84 per cent Yes vote,there were no fanfares or State ceremonies. The distinctly unenthusiastic consensus that it was necessary swamped a No campaign that warned of the irretrievable loss of sovereignty.
The fall-out from Brexit, a colossal self-inflicted wound to the UK, shows how profoundly things have changed. There is no suggestion that Ireland should now also leave the EU as a result. Ireland’s first port of call on the world stage, its primary relationship, is now with our partners in the EU who stood, and stand, by us through the painful divorce with the UK.
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Membership has also transformed Ireland’s economic fortunes. EU structural funds helped to modernise the economy, while access to the single market was vital in attracting foreign investment and increasing exports.
The EU is far from perfect. However, 50 years on, Ireland has every reason to look on accession as one of the State’s historic turning points.
