Telling the truth about EU treaties is all we ask

In Oct 1971, a man wrote to then foreign affairs minister Patrick Hillery complaining that when his mother had attempted to pick up the Government Information Bureau’s pamphlet on the EEC from Bray post office, the official behind the counter expressed ignorance of any pamphlet, asking: “What’s the EEC? Is it a new allowance?”

Few policy decisions have had such a profound impact on life in Ireland as our entry to the EEC in 1973 and, for many, Irish membership of the EU has indeed proved to be an allowance, bringing with it significant monetary and social benefits. Recent experience of the European project has, however, soured, with the EU now part of the bogeyman of the troika stalking the land and implementing austerity.

Ireland’s relationship with the EU has lurched from stability to crisis. The rejection of the Lisbon treaty in Jun 2008, the second such defeat of a European referendum in seven years, reopened the debate as to Ireland’s role within the EU.