Ireland and the European Union
In recent months, I have been required to speak quite frequently here in Britain about the European Union. In particular, I have often been asked to outline Ireland's attitude to the current debate about the UK's future in the EU, what has become known as the Brexit question. This is a topic of considerable interest to us as a fellow EU member alongside the UK since 1973 and the closeness of our relationship with the UK, especially since the Good Friday Agreement. My latest public statement on the Brexit issue was made to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee of the House of Commons. Click here for my opening remarks to the Committee.
All of this talk about Brexit has prompted me to look back over my own experience of the EU during more than 35 years as a member of Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs. My first assignment, when I joined the diplomatic service in the late 1970s, required me to deal with EU issues and I have been involved with the European affairs on and off throughout the intervening years including a four-year spell as Director-General of the European Union Division at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin.
In the early days of my diplomatic career, what we now know as the EU was not a pretty picture. The initial momentum of European integration had waned and there was an air of stagnation within the European institutions. That situation changed in the early 1980s when the economic challenges facing European economies prompted a drive to create a European single market and later the Euro.
In those early days of our membership, Ireland was well behind the other eight member states in terms of economic development. In the 43 years since Ireland and the UK joined, EU membership, and in particular access to the single market, has facilitated the transformation of the Irish economy. Across the board, EU membership has been a very positive experience for Ireland and for the evolution of our relations with our nearest neighbour.
In the early 1970s, our wealth per capita was about two-thirds of the EU average. Today, even after the setbacks of the economic and financial crisis, our wealth levels are above the EU average. Membership has enabled us to develop and diversify our trade and to attract high-quality foreign direct investment into Ireland. We have also been able to contribute significantly to the development of EU policies, especially on the seven occasions when we have held the rotating six-month EU Presidency, most recently in 2013.
The value to Ireland of EU membership is that it facilitates mutually-beneficial ties with our neighbours including the UK. Far from seeing it as undermining our sovereignty, we view membership as an asset that adds to our capacity to influence our external environment. Being in the EU allows us to combine our efforts with those of our 27 EU partners and this, we believe, gives us more influence over our country's future than we would enjoy by acting alone.
In my experience, the EU’s role is most relevant in the fields of the Single Market, trade with third countries and competition policy and, for those countries that use the Euro, economic and monetary policy. There are many major areas of public policy - arguably the most important ones for most people - where the EU plays little or no role, for example social welfare, education, health, taxation (except for VAT), defence and justice (where Ireland like the UK has the right to opt in to those measures that meet our needs). We run our own schools, hospitals, defence forces and diplomatic service without involvement by EU institutions.
Compared with our national budget, EU spending is modest in scale - less than 1% of EU GDP. In essence, the EU represents an advanced form of international cooperation and is a long way from being a European super state. There are those in various parts of Europe who want to see the EU become a federal entity, but it is clear that they are very much in a minority. Every increase in the EU's powers requires the unanimous agreement of the 28 member states. Past experience has shown that treaty change is a difficult business requiring lengthy negotiations and a protracted ratification period in every member state. Insofar as the further deepening of integration may occur over the years ahead, it is generally expected that this will focus on the euro area.
EU membership alongside the UK has benefited Ireland considerably. We would be concerned about the advantages for Ireland-UK relations and North-South links in Ireland being put at risk, or being subject to protracted uncertainties in the event of the UK deciding to leave the EU. I recognise of course that this is a decision for the UK electorate, but I think it important that, as a friendly neighbour, we continue to make our views known here in Britain.
Daniel Mulhall is Ireland’s Ambassador in London