John O'Brennan: Ireland could be crucial to Montenegro's EU accession chances

Like Ireland in 1973, Montenegro is small, peripheral and insecure, in a world of increasingly volatile international relations and a multilateral order in retreat

Taoiseach Micheál Martin (left) meeting the president of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović, at Government Buildings in February. Montenegro’s current struggle for international recognition is one that Ireland fought at an earlier stage of its existence.
Photo: Government Information Service

The Irish writer Hubert Butler spent a great deal of time in the Balkans in the 1920s and 1930s. 

He wrote beautifully about Montenegro, in particular, introducing Irish readers to a part of the continent that seemed both geographically obscure and faintly mythical. Butler emphasised the proud traditions of the Montenegrins and how its mountainous landscape helped mould the character of the people of the region.