Vulnerability to Brexit: We need other trading partners

When the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU, on June 23, it provoked a tsunami of self-centred comment on this side of the water. Would it be economically disastrous for Ireland or would it bring huge opportunities for our financial services market?

What would happen to the Northern Ireland peace process and would we return to a hard border between north and south? What about Irish citizens living in Britain and British people living here?

The commentaries — often contradictory — posed more questions than answers, but they all tended to be predicated on the assumption that the British people had made a huge mistake and would come to regret exiting the world’s largest trading bloc, as it would leave their country isolated and vulnerable to global economic winds.