The history of Ireland has been about emerging from the shadow of England. That has been the objective right up until the present time. Irish nationalism was never isolationist. Roger Casement believed that the dominance of Britain prevented Ireland from connecting with Continental Europe.
The seminal event in our recent history was the 1916 Rising, in which Ireland refused to fight Britain’s wars and claimed support from our “gallant allies in Europe”.
Formal independence in 1922 did not end that process. It was merely a stepping stone, even if Irish governments of the 1920s were inclined to forget that fact.
Other steps along the way were the 1937 Constitution, which set aside the Treaty Constitution, and the withdrawal of Britain from the ‘Treaty ports’ in 1938.
The accession of Ireland to what was then the European Economic Community in 1973 was another significant step along the road. Through the Common Agricultural Policy, Ireland was able to become less dependent on the British market for its agricultural exports. The European Social Fund fostered industrial development, and our access to the European market attracted American capital.
The breaking of the link with sterling in 1979 was another development that enabled us to break free from Britain and develop closer ties with Europe.
Of course, there was a price: pooling sovereignty could also mean diminishing sovereignty. But the European project proceeded by consensus. The President of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995, Jacques Delors, emphasised the principle of subsidiarity: authority belongs at the level closest to the citizen, such as local or national governments. Ireland could identify with his Social Catholicism.
By belonging to a larger political entity, we could adopt foreign policy positions that would be more difficult for a smaller country to sustain.
In 2003 France and Germany, along with Russia and China, opposed the American and British Invasion of Iraq.
At the time, the French intellectual Emmanuel Todd thought this would presage the decline of the American Empire. Europe would emerge from the hegemony of America and would develop closer economic ties with Russia. But how wrong he was!
Europe has developed a virulent Russophobia, which is all the more striking because it is contrary to its economic interests. Germany allowed the Americans to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines and thereby made itself dependent on the more expensive fossil fuels from the United States, causing a crisis for German manufacturing.
Russia, unlike the United States, has not threatened to invade any member of the EU, despite virulent provocations from EU countries participating in the war in Ukraine.
Ireland is under pressure to close the Aughinish Alumina plant in County Limerick, resulting in the loss of 475 direct jobs and up to another 1,500 contract and indirect jobs. The Government has attempted to hold the line in the face of a relentless campaign by The Irish Times.
But it appears that Ireland is in danger of relenting in some areas. According to the American magazine Foreign Policy, Ireland has a contract with France in which France would supply arms and training to the Irish Defence Forces. The purpose seems to be to enable the boarding of vessels violating anti-Russian sanctions.
Ireland should refrain from such acts of piracy. The EU is not the political entity that it was.
Our “gallant allies in Europe” have lost their way. Their hatred of Russia has blinded them to their true economic and political interests. Now that they have subordinated themselves to Anglo-American Imperialism, it has never been more necessary to re-affirm our military neutrality.
