EU has been great for us. Now we can make it work for everyone else

WE’RE lucky. As of last November, there were slightly more than 490 million people living in the EU.

We’re a tiny proportion of that number — less than 1%. But we’re the only ones entitled to vote on how the European Union will operate in future.

The other 99% of the people have to watch and wait while we decide what should be done. I know it has been said there’s something undemocratic about that, and maybe there is.

And it has been said, too, that this fact puts enormous pressure on us — the 1%. But I don’t see it that way. It’s actually a huge privilege for each and every citizen of Ireland to be able to go and cast a vote on Lisbon this week.

I remember a few years ago, in the course of a family holiday in Italy, finding ourselves in a little town called Bobbio. On the outskirts of the town, right in the heart of Europe, there’s a statue of Saint Columbanus, the Irish monk who set up a monastery there and translated the Bible into Italian.

In the monastery there’s a stained glass window in honour of Saint Patrick and the town has celebrated Patrick’s Day for generations.

We were all reared, of course, to remember that our country was known as the island of saints and scholars in those days and that the influence of Ireland, as a result of the work of Irish monks, was widespread throughout Europe.

It is not much of an exaggeration to say that this week, when we vote on the Lisbon Treaty, our influence will once again be felt far beyond our own borders. And it could be profound.

This treaty, at one level, is not about much. It doesn’t enlarge Europe or create a new currency, or set up new institutions. In essence, it’s about making creaky institutions work better.

That might not mean a lot to us because we’ve done pretty well out of the existing institutions. But it matters enormously to the people of the newer member states who really need Europe to work for them now in the way it has done in the past for us.

We can, of course, say ‘I’m alright Jack’ and decide to leave things as they are by voting no. Despite what we might have been told, that won’t damage us unduly. But it will damage the people who need Europe’s help to get their economies growing a bit like ours.

If we think back a bit, there have been times in the past when we really needed Europe. When we joined, Irish agriculture, and a great deal of our industry, was in its death throes. Europe helped us to rebuild our agricultural sector and to build, almost from scratch, a related food industry. There have been times over the years when we have been less than honest in the way we dealt with Europe over agricultural matters, but that’s a different argument.

The fact is that without the help of Europe, rural life in Ireland would never have developed to the point it has.

And our position in Europe has been the cornerstone of most of the foreign direct investment we have attracted over three decades.

We have made great play all over the world of the fact that we are the gateway to Europe and our young, adaptable, English-speaking workforce has been sold to every industrialist willing to give us a hearing.

And if that wasn’t enough, Europe has invested heavily in us directly. European public servants at a variety of levels have helped us to build roads, harbours, airports, power stations.

They have invested in third-level education, in training for people with disabilities, in back-to-work programmes to enable women to re-enter the workforce.

There has hardly been a bit of economic activity over the last number of years in which Europe hasn’t been actively involved in supporting us.

Cohesion funds, regional funds, peace funds, funds for disadvantaged areas — it has all come from Europe and has added up to a sizeable chunk of our national wealth.

A lot of that has quietened down now, of course. That’s partly because we are now so wealthy we don’t need it.

When Europe started investing in Ireland, we had an awful lot of catching-up to do. Well, we’ve done it — and we couldn’t have done it without the help that Europe gave us.

Other countries badly need help now. They need Europe to be functioning efficiently, to be capable of making decisions, to be working well at the centre. It can’t work well unless we give it the green light by voting for Lisbon.

And while we’re making up our minds, let’s remember some of the other ways that Europe has changed us over the 35 years we’ve been members. Equal pay for equal work. Laws prohibiting discrimination. The rights of women, people at work, consumers, people with a disability. The place of the environment in public policy.

Europe has been a pretty progressive place to be associated with, all told.

And what price have we paid? What have we lost over the years in return for all the investment Europe has made? Has one Irish soldier died in a European war? Has anyone ever had to pay one penny in direct taxation to Europe? Have we had to give up our language, our legal system, our capacity to decide our own relationships with the rest of the world?

Have we had to change a single one of our customs or traditions? Have we ever been forced to enact a law we didn’t agree with or adopt a tax rate that didn’t suit our circumstances?

No, we haven’t, have we? We’re still Irish and proud of it. Europe never took a hand in our little conflict here on the island, never told us they didn’t approve. While we spent 30 years trying to resolve a conflict that was a blight on the European landscape, Europe never offered anything but help.

AND when we finally reached a point of accommodation that required investment in reconstruction and reconciliation, Europe was the first to invest.

I admit one thing for myself. I’ve always been a slightly grudging European. I’m Irish — first, last and always. I cheer for Ireland, not for Europe (except, of course, when the Ryder Cup is on). But I’m proud of what Ireland has done, and what Ireland has become, as my children have grown here.

And when I think about it, I realise that in every single aspect of our lives Europe has been a force for good.

We have nothing to fear from a Europe that is more efficient and harder-working. Sure, we might lose a commissioner for part of the time and we might be outvoted once or twice (though never on matters that are critical to our national interest). Big deal. I’m arguing for a yes vote because Europe is a decent place to be part of. I’d like a few other countries — as poor now as we were when we joined — to get the same opportunities we’ve had.

And good luck to them.