It is an excuse. It is a cop-out. It is a sleveen’s mantra. What I am talking about is the tendency of some of our elected representatives to harp on about Ireland being a ‘small country’. The latest of a very long line of politicians to slip on this particular banana skin is Munster MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú. She is a rising star in Europe and her contributions, on Euronews Channel in particular, are impressive. Still, I don’t remember, ever, any politician from any other country, using the excuse of their country being small to enhance whatever point they were trying to make.

If we fact-check the basic assertion, Ireland does not qualify to be described as a small country by any of the three standard criteria, ie, size of population, size of territorial area, or size of its economy.

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