Ireland’s old cosy consensus on Europe is now a thing of the past

FOLLOWING the convincing Nice referendum result, the findings of the latest Euro Barometer Survey revealed the other day that the Irish top the poll when asked specifically if the country has benefited from EU membership. Overall, 86% believe it has. Suddenly, everything is looking rosy again in our relationship with Europe.

Less than a week ago, Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee was warning Irish voters that if we rejected Nice once again, we risked being transformed overnight from the most loveable nation on earth into the xenophobic pariah of Europe: "it might come as a shock to the Irish, " she noted, "to discover that overnight the rest of Europe finds them a lot less likeable.

"As the Celtic mists clear, instead of green romance, Europe might see another side of the coin a narrow-minded, nationalist and selfish country. The No campaign, led by Sinn Féin and the Greens, springs from the same British right-wing xenophobia that sets sovereignty above progressive international co-operation."