European Union

European Union (EU) (initially known as the European Economic Community and later as the European Community), a grouping of West European countries formed in 1957 with the objective of economic and political integration. Ireland was admitted in 1973 along with Britain and Denmark. There had long been interest in the prospect of membership as a means of escape from economic stagnation and dependency on the British market. By the late 1950s both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were committed to seeking membership and willing to accept the diminution of neutrality that it was expected to involve.

An initial application made jointly with Britain, Denmark, and Norway was rejected in 1962. With the departure of President de Gaulle of France from the political scene in 1969, however, the main obstruction was removed and admission swiftly negotiated. A referendum in 1972 resulted in a vote of five to one in favour of membership.

Membership of the Community brought clear benefits to Ireland. The Common Agricultural Policy boosted Irish farming through production subsidies and higher prices. Industry too gained from the diversification of markets. There was also a major inflow of funds from the European social and regional programmes as well as currency support from the Cohesion Fund. Although Ireland's application for membership was dictated by dependence on the British economy, the effect of membership was sharply to reduce that dependence. Emblematic of this was Ireland's entry to the European Monetary System in 1979 which, with Britain's refusal to participate, ended the 150‐year link with sterling.

Ireland was among the more willing signatories of both the Single European Act of 1988 and the Maastricht treaty of 1992, both of which deepened economic and political integration within the Community. In January 1999 Ireland was in the first group of EU members to move towards European monetary union by adopting the euro. In the short term this accelerated Ireland's already dramatic growth rates of the time as inward investment increased. Longer‐term questions remained, however, about loss of national control over interest rates and the potential impact on investment if and when the United Kingdom also entered the ‘eurozone’.

Bibliography

Keatinge, P. (ed.), Ireland and European Community Membership Evaluated (1991)
Maher, D. J. , The Tortuous Path: The Course of Ireland's Entry into the EEC 1948–73 (1986)

Norrie MacQueen