DISQUS

AMERICAblog: Ireland rejects EU, oh no what will they do now?

  • jr · 1 year ago
    Unitary Executive Theory hell on both sides of the pond
  • OlderAndWiser · 1 year ago
    If Ireland's economy hadn't been booming for the last 20 years, I don't think they'd hesitate to join the EU, but now that international companies are discovering the high numbers of educated there, it's become more attractive to those companies' interests.

    Just 30 years ago, though, a friend who has relatives in Ireland reported that in many rural areas, people still used a hole in the ground for their toilet needs. Dublin and emigration to England were seen as utlimate goals for many job seekers, even low level mfg, hotel and tourism jobs.

    And, too, the situation between north and south has been tamped, at least for the present, but the centuries-old resentments still lie beneath the surface, buffered only by the recently improved economic situation.
  • firebrand · 1 year ago
    I was there in 2000 and heard the same thing about how things used to be from my cousins. But that time is long past.

    The Computer industry gave them a big boost.....now they're quite wealthy.
  • flashcard · 1 year ago
    With 346 pages of legalese, who would not be weary of what they were ratifying? The possibility that their young men could be conscripted into an European army, did not go over real well.
  • Indigo · 1 year ago
    The EU is not a good idea. The French already said so. The Dutch already said so. And now the Irish say so. A shared currency might be good for business and open borders might make for cultural pasturization, but that's not the same as busloads of unskilled workers just in from Transylvania and it's certainly not the same as a top-down idea cluster misnamed a constitution. If the good sense of the French, the Dutch, and the Irish are not enough to stop the EU blue jacket club, what will it take?
  • OlderAndWiser · 1 year ago
    Ireland certainly didn't reject the invasion of the Roman Catholic Church all those many years ago, which has led to the conservatism of the populace and their govt.

    Anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-anything the church deems "sinful", Ireland's social policies mitigate against women's rights as well.

    Perhaps by the end of the 21st century, perhaps Ireland will come around to being in the 20th century in its social policies.
  • firebrand · 1 year ago
    O&W

    I believe that there was considerable turmoil in Ireland and Scotland when the Celtic Christian Church was replaced by Church of Rome.

    Among other things, those Celtic Christian priest's were reluctant to give up the right to marry. Go figure, huh :-)
  • warsaw · 1 year ago
    Sorry, I like you and all but Ireland is really up to date on most social issues. They've repudiated the church and it's history of acute and brutal repression of women and gays. They will legalize gay marriage soon (This year) and have elected woman to all the highest offices. This is not your father's Ireland. This vote shows it's really advanced thinking and the ability of it's people to think for themselves.
  • cosanostradamus · 1 year ago
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    The Eurocrats are already conspiring with the Taoiseach to have himself and/ or the Dail rubber-stamp the treaty. It'll be the end of his government if he does, if not his Party. But that's the only way it can be passed anywhere: Most western European electorates have nixed it, only to be over-ruled by their governments.

    The Irish, like most of Western Europe, don't want to live under a U.S.-style superpower, with Walmart-workers rights, no health-care, and endless Imperial wars. Things are actually pretty good in Europe now, they feel they've got it about right, especially in Ireland, the most prosperous country in the E.U. It's just those power-mad Eurocrats and their corporate masters who want to Bushify.

    More on the issues here.
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