Europe should start to showcase Ireland as EU poster child

Theresa May will exercise her finger and pull the trigger on Brexit next week. With that a sequence of events are about to unfold that have profound consequences for Ireland and its economy.

A maelstrom of political convulsion is about to sweep across Britain; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are rightly animated about how their economic futures are being pitched into a period of unprecedented uncertainty. Within England, its economic powerhouse — the City of London — is struggling to adjust to an all new reality that will make its place within the enormous European market questionable.

It will take a long time for countries and corporations to forget — or even forgive — the decision that Britain has taken. Many years of effort, goodwill and hard tangible cash have been invested in creating bases within the UK that could serve the entire European market. Politicians across Europe have shown flexibility to Britain as it grappled with its historic strengths of empire with the new world of collaboration and negotiated trade agreements. It is becoming patently clear that both countries and corporations will now make decisions that reflect the harsh facts that stem from Brexit.