The EU was good in theory until the Germans took control of it. They are now using the currency as their main weapon in an economic war.

There’s a whole world to trade with out there. Switzerland does very well and with our new founded oil and gas resources we could be both Norway and Switzerland. Iceland does very well too. This EU soviet model will die. The maths of the debt alone just doesn’t add up.
We need to grow balls. I think our hand will be forced regardless in the not too distant future.

Its not really a soviet model, its closer to fascism.

Do you have the figures for each IR?

Sorry – response to wrong comment – see below

Sean the single European market creates free trade between European states. It is the EU’s greatest achievement and our access to it is one of the many reasons multi-national companies choose Ireland as their EU destination.
The deal the Swiss got was unique and I highly doubt any other country be it Britain, Ireland or any other would ever get a deal like it (especially considering the financial crises).
You’re right in that our politicians need to man up and look for an Irish solution. The Germans are under the impression that it is wrong for them to pay for bank debt that they didn’t create likewise it is just as wrong to ask the Irish to pay for it.
I would love talks, even as a Plan B solution, to begin on reverting back to the punt. A nice headline of Kenny and Cameron discussing it would surely rattle German leaders.

@Alan Maguire. We got ?40 billion in EU structural funds since we joined, while the fish extracted from Irish waters was worth a whopping ?200 billion. 40% of the EUs fish comes from Irish waters.

We should leave with the uk.we can still trade with the eu, really they would take any business or are they going to refuse us and suffer more.if Ireland and UK were to leave the eu it would collapse.we could make decisions without having to seek approval.

Agreed an Ireland and UK threat together would make the leaders sit up and notice. It’s no longer a union…far from it In fact. The future if Europe is/will be a fascist soviet model. Federalisation will lead to a core leadership Germany and the rest of the countries will have to jump to their tune. Those that can not see this are foolish beyond belief. Bye bye Ireland

@Alan the reason multi-nationals choose Ireland is bcoz of our 12.5% Corp Tax. I wud also like to go back to the punt and self governance.70% + of our laws are made in brussels by faceless beuracrats. it is a soviet/fascist model with the centralisation of power away from countries to unelected people who the irish cannot remove. 1973 was the last vote on the EeC and you would have to be aged 57+ to have had a say.How many in the country are younger than that? we need to have a say/vote on continued membership

Sorry I meant to send that comment to Adam

How can something be a fascist/soviet model? Surely that would mean Ireland’s just in the middle of the political spectrum…

If we left we could also take back our MASSIVE fisheries industry!

Also, I think we should follow. Deep sea baby.

come on look at who the poll was carried out by – the European movement , this is a movement funded by the EU to promote the EU , they are hardly going to portray anything that is not pro eu , its a false poll that should be ignored .

Not quite, we more of less feed large parts of the EU. Ireland produces enough food for 36 million people, the EU needs us. Don’t forget our fishing rights also.

no its not, we trade more with eurozone than UK

The money we got from the EU is a lot less than the fishing rights we gave away.

Do you have figures for each IR?

@ Irish Revolution +10 plus the new found oil and gas we’ll also give away + well yea the entire country that we’re giving all away to everyone and anyone. OUT NOW. Leaving the EU would be a disaster lol, we are a disaster!

It’s not all about money though. I fully believe that if our government was somehow magically wealthy from these fishing rights, they would have managed to balls things up just as badly. A lot of smart and useful regulations are coming from European countries that have been dealing with problems for decades that we don’t even have yet, mainly due to population size and demographics.

IR whats this about fishing rights. Yes we gave some of them away but there is more to that than your story. Do you expect the fishing industry to keep this country going. It wont & even if we could fish our waters exclusively we wouldnt have the capacity to do it or the infrastructure to get that amount of fish to market. We are a small country we need a diverse open economy.Small economies like ours cant rely on one sector.

Why cant we rely on food export, they call it economics of scale, we are leader in food production. If were not in the eu ,let the rest of Europe pay for the tariffs for the imports of your products in to Europe. We can always export to the emerging countries were we as an independent country can make your own trade agreement that benefit us as a country. Most of your import come from the middle east via some company in Europe which is probably set up in Ireland for tax reasons.

Well Sky tv is owned by British Sky Broadcasting, they’re setting up a HQ here, nothing to do with EU mainland. eBay/paypal is in Luxembourg, we ain’t that special. In fact thats where their heart and money is, not here. one can’t sell on ebay anyway as it is, EU or no EU, their selling fees are a joke, as for paypal, many are closing their accounts with them ALSO due to their fees just for accepting money from a friend!

We have google Microsoft etc because we re a tax haven, they money launder profits thru Ireland. Very simple really. The gov gave em grants to set up here creating badly needed employment. If we up corporation tax they leave. Multinationals exert massive influence over all but the G7 governments, the G7 are ran separately by the rothschilds nwo!

Brazil, Norway & Iceland have vast natural resources enabling them to go it alone. Ireland hasn’t.

The vast majority of 1000 people want to stay in the EU and the rest of that 1000 doesn’t…better?

Because the journal.ie has an anti-EU bias. This is a Daily Mail style manipulation of figures. It’s a shame to see the journal going this route.

We think you should go with them, leave Ireland out of it!

Have you thought of what would happen to the border between NI and ROI if the UK leaves the EU and we remained part of it Chris? Customs for a start….no more cheap booze and ASDA sausages for you!

Norway’s not in the EU, and they have a border with Sweden much as ours with NI. Since the UK wants to negotiate something similar to Norway, and neither of us are acually in Schengen – there should be no problem.

James not exactly true. There is customs borders at the Swedish Norwegian frontiers. As well as that its similar to all borders when you leave the eu & goods are T status with customs proceedures at the borders unless you clear at a designated customs clearing station after the border.Its very close to the system in Swiss but it is more relaxed.

Don’t bother leaving a rational answer or reasoned contradiction of my post, just do the usual and leave anonymous red thumbs, I expect nothing less from journal.ie subscribers these days.

+1 the greedy corrupt Irish pigs have ruined the Irish reputation forever. Would rather be run by the uk if I’m being honest.

Rather a big brother England than a larger bully Germany. 1/3 of the population are not wrong….it will slowly grow larger as more and more ‘powers’ get transferred to Europe. Imo The Euro currency won’t be around in five years time anyway. At least not as it stands. A two tried Europe along with a devalued euro fir the PIIGS will be on the cards….then all our debts will double over night. And Greece kicked or leave of their own accord who knows but the cracks are starting to crumble. Best to get out now. I love Europe.

Not true, Ireland joined so we would not be dependent on the UK

Yeah … OK. ;)

Cie/Dublin bus/etc
vs
LDN underground, British rail etc

HSE
vs
NHS

To argue the fact that a country like England is not well run is idiotic especially when using a small portion of unruly society as a guide. The LDN riots are not a true representation of English society as a whole, rather a very small portion in fact. They can certainly run a country a damn sight better than we can. Could you imagine the fallout here from a terrorist attack or riots. We may as well shut the country down, feck we can’t even handle a bit I’d snow! I’ll say one thing for the British, they have a sense of self pride and unbelievably strong patriotism and as an Irish man I envy that. Nowadays, Irish pride is only a slice pan.