The chaos of Brexit brought with it several by-products. Among them, Ireland’s increased fervour for the European Union was perhaps the least surprising. Thanks to sustained attacks leveraged at Leo Varadkar (a naive patsy of Brussels, as a certain wing of the British press might have you believe), it is no wonder that the country embraced its friendlier European colleagues with open arms. EU attempts at reining in the worst impulses of the Conservative government – as Boris Johnson undermined principles of fair diplomacy and threatened Northern Ireland’s fragile peace – were, also, naturally lauded in Dublin.
Brexit brought Dublin and Brussels together. But it hardly needs to be said that Ireland has long been one of the EU’s primary beneficiaries. Its membership of the European Union facilitated an overdue transition from an agrarian society to one driven by trade and technology. When the Economist declared in 2020 that Ireland had “good claim to be the world’s most diplomatically powerful country” per capita, we know that the influence of the EU on that status can hardly be overstated. Ireland’s success is a salve to Europhiles scattered across the continent: a standard bearer for the project, a small country elevated to a grand scale.
But perhaps this is more a marriage of convenience than many of us are willing to accept. Not that any of the above is incorrect, far from it. Ireland is patently a huge beneficiary of the European machine. The EU has been an obvious force for good on the fabric of Ireland, not least in thanks to the founding principles of the bloc: brokering, maintaining and fostering peace. And our attitude to the bloc has remained positive and unchanging in recent years. In 2023, European Movement Ireland found that 79 per cent of those in Northern Ireland and 88 per cent of those in the Republic supported EU membership. Foolhardy suggestions that an ‘Irexit’ is on the cards is a disposition unique to extreme fringes.
Brexit seemed to stick a pin in Anglo-Irish goodwill. But perhaps what looked like a permanent blow then was actually just a minor blip
But not all is rosy in the apparent Hiberno-EU fairytale. Ireland has to work out how to position itself in the EU, post-Brexit. Now that we are no longer brought artificially closer by the bogeymen of the Conservative Party, can Ireland sustain its role as central to EU affairs while deviating on questions like neutrality while pursuing sometimes controversial tax policies to attract investment?
It is one thing to reap all the economic benefits of bloc membership, and quite another to do so while Ireland strays from the norm on some big questions. Ireland might fashion itself as one of the most culturally pro EU countries, but perhaps it cannot escape its status as a small oddity on the periphery of the continent.
This speaks to something we might be uncomfortable accepting. Ireland may have cleaved to the EU during the Covid-19 pandemic. But policy arrangements divined in a global health crisis are not what forms the soul of a nation. Rather, Ireland will always be a far more comfortable bedfellow with the United Kingdom. In spite of all the antagonism of the Brexit years, Ireland really has lost its best friend in the bloc.
It is a cultural question more than anything. Swathes of Irish immigrants have long settled in London - whether that be those who came to Camden in the 1970s or the cohort of young Irish in Hackney now. The sweeping generalisations - that we don’t like the Brits or their so-called imperialist apologia - don’t really hold a candle to the actual evidence of Irish people making Britain their home. We see it, too, with the likes of restaurateur Richard Corrigan setting up a new restaurant on the roof of Britain’s National Portrait gallery; the slew of young female Irish novelists who seek literary agents in London; the impact of the Irish on the British media landscape, from Sharon Horgan’s hit comedies to Patrick Kielty being a firm favourite in Britain long before he arrived on The Late Late Show. This kind of international exchange is not a frivolous concern, but precisely what defines Ireland’s global impact.
In spite of all the antagonism of the Brexit years, Ireland really has lost its best friend in the bloc
Brexit seemed to stick a pin in Anglo-Irish goodwill. But perhaps what looked like a permanent blow then was actually just a minor blip. Brexit will recede in political memories on both sides of the sea, and what will remain are a shared cultural language and inextricable histories.
Meanwhile, a storm is brewing for Ireland on the continent. Shorn of its closest ally, it is being forced to make hard decisions about exactly what kind of member it wants to be. Deriving much of its contemporary success from EU membership does not imply a deeply held kinship as much as it does a mutually convenient arrangement. Perhaps Ireland – for all its wealth and diplomatic success within the bloc – has just never been as European as it thinks.