Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
SEVEN OUT OF 10 Irish voters think Ireland should stay in the European Union, even if the Brexit deal between the EU and the UK is bad for Ireland.
That’s according to an opinion poll conducted for an RTÉ One documentary.
It also found that four out of five Irish voters (82%) believe the Government should be tougher in its dealings with the EU over Brexit.
EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier will represent Irish interests when negotiations on Brexit start later this year.
When asked whether voters trusted parties to the upcoming Brexit negotiations to protect Irish interests, 75% of voters trust our own Government to do so and 72% the EU’s negotiating team, while only 43% trust the British Government.
One of the top three priorities identified by Barnier’s team is the border between the North and the Republic of Ireland. The threat of a hard border has led to some discussion of other outcomes, including a united Ireland.
When asked if they would favour a united Ireland if it made sense following a Brexit deal, the RTÉ poll found that 74% would favour a 32-county republic, while 21% are against it.
Referendum
Barnier’s team have a two-year window in which to conclude the Brexit negotiations and agree terms with the British Government. When asked if the Irish Government should hold a referendum on the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, 53% of respondents to the RTÉ survey said it should.
However overall the survey showed that voters see our future within the EU, with 71% agreeing that Ireland should stay in the EU, even if the outcome of the Brexit negotiations is bad for the country.
Voters also want to see a closer-knit Europe after Britain leaves the Union, with 67% of respondents saying that they want to see further EU integration once a Brexit deal has been agreed.
The survey of 1,000 adults was conducted by RedC between the 8 and 11 May. They were asked a number of questions on the challenges now faced by Ireland and how they believe our Government should now react.
The poll was conducted as part of a new, authored documentary, Brexit, Trump and Us, where economist David McWilliams explores the events that have left us facing these tough decisions.
Brexit, Trump and Us will be shown on RTÉ One tonight at 9:35pm.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Amazing how these supposedly rte/Claire Byrne opinion polls map out the mood of the nation.you can’t say most Irish people want to stay in the EU unless there is a proper referendum on it.i smell bull on this and a misleading headline
@dick dastardly: and the most conservative right wing people in Ireland watch RTE. Everyone else sees it for the propaganda media it is. You will never get any truth from the Fianna Gael broadcasting company.
@dick dastardly: it was a representative poll/sample. Please look up what that means. It’ll be more accurate, and reflective of the nation’s mood than a Journal poll anyway.
@dick dastardly: We are staying get over it and it will never come to a referendum! If ye don’t like it there is a ferry leaving at 11am for Brexit!
@dick dastardly: There has been numerous polls over the last few years and the results have all been 65%+ in favour. No need for a referendum
i am looking forward to brexit, we are already mopping up the jobs and will get a hard border, for that i am very grateful :)
@Nointerest Here: I think in recent years the lines have been blurred between liberism and conservatism. Ireland is actually a socially liberal country. Conservatism has always been a word thrown around to describe closed minded ignorant fools. This is wrong.
Conservatism is the new punk :-D
@dick dastardly: purely as a gut feeling, I tend to distrust some of the implied results from these RTE polls. The figures mostly seem reasonable, I think most people would, out of caution, opt to stay in the EU, given the risky alternatives.
I do, however, seriously distrust that one result that indicates we want to blindly dive deeper into the Union. On the last few treaties we we asked about, they had to stretch the limits of democracy and honesty in order to squeeze past the line. Wrong result, vote again and btw, nobody’s going home till you get it right.
I have a feeling the push for full a Federal Union is going to start as soon as the Brits have stepped off the train, with us coupled in and dragged along.
@Greg Blake: A commie superstate
@Greg Blake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhCRbZ0cOnM
@Fergal Doyle: Oh we are not. Wake up call. Look at the UK. That will be us soon. There are more of us than you the wealthy and privileged.
@Greg Blake: Exactly, They are gansters who force people to get their way. Won’t be tolerated. A referendum would see the EU ditched here too.
@booby sandwiches: yay. slow.
@Nointerest Here: I think you’ve been watching too much Alex Jones.
@Nointerest Here: well done, great comment! You keyboard clown …. go on, hide behind it!
What exactly does further EU integration look like and what’s the point? It seems like whatever shape it takes we’ll lose some of our sovereignty. Also, how the hell can people trust the EU to look after our interests in the negotiations after how we were treated by them during the crash!
@Awkward Seal: Exactly. The truth is out that they put a gun to the heads of weak cowardly people who caved in and allowed them to force a bailout. The weaklings continued the damage in power so it shows me that the EU is dead.
@Awkward Seal: sovereignty is pooled not lost.
If you are suggesting the EU should have taken on our bank debt you just show immature your arguments are.
You would not have agreed to share any of their debt if the shoe was on the other foot.
@Danny Rafferty: you support not burning unguaranteed bond holders then?
@Danny Rafferty: He’s talking about not being allowed to burn the bondholders . Ya know, those people who knowingly risked investing in bonds and who should’ve never been paid
@Danny Rafferty: No but I would expected men with Ba88s to stand up to Trichet. Instead we get the well off privileged in suits showing the cowards that they were caving in to bully tactics. It should have been put to a referendum but they sh*t themselves when he frightened them into thinking the ATM’s would run dry. I would said let them run dry and the EU will take the brunt of the backlash. Fianna Gael then carried on the massive cowardice shown by those who made the deal. Then slavishly continued ruthless austerity that has devastated the low paid and poor in this country. Fianna Gael have shown over the last 6 years that they are worse then any EU when it comes to supporting the banks and super rich. The Irish people will show them exactly where to go at the next election.
Shared debt?? We have to pay it back and it was not the fault of ordinary people. Jeeze some spin you’ve got there
@Danny Rafferty: ‘Our’ bank debt was money risked by foreign banks. The debt of the bank was ‘socialised’ and taken on by the people of Ireland. If the banks were in profit and the surplus was ‘socialised’ then there would be uproar. Welcome to the new normal. Capitalism is dead. Corporatism and Globalism is the new norm.
@Awkward Seal: POLITICAL UNION, the destruction of democracy and the introduction of Impearialism.
I am an Irish citizen and I hate everything that the EU has become. Their policies override Irish sovereignty and Irish concerns to the detriment of the country and that is why I am finished with the EU.
@Nointerest Here: Yeah. All that environmental and social equality legislation they force on us is so bad for the country. You do realise that it’s EU legislation that gives us 20 days annual leave? (Irish legislation had 15). I could go on…
@Nointerest Here:
When you join a gym and give 1% of your income to the gym and have to obey the rules of the gym, do you feel you are no longer “sovereign”…That’s just dumb, you also get benefits from the gym.
@Fred Jensen: And then the ‘gym’ says that you are also responsible for the financial losses at the other gyms and that you need to pay more money for that.
@Fred Jensen: That’s correct,but then,you are free to cancel your membership if you’re not happy .
@methodical2020: Exactly, the quisling irish government want 2 classes, the rich elite and the working poor..the middle class has been all but eroded.
@eastsmer #IRExit: An absolute horse**** myth.
@RJ.Fallon: Of course then they’ll tell you that you actually owe them a ton of money.
@Daragh Cassidy: Then Irish legislation should be changed. Do we need to EU to lead us like a nanny. No. EU legislation has seen to it that we can’t even burn a sod of our own turf. There isn’t enough space here to list the damage that the EU has done here. One in particular I will mention. Throwing 70 billion of debt onto innocent people to bail out corrupt bankers and developers. Well done to the Richmans elite EU. Ye can keep it. You can head off to Brussels if you like it all that much. I live In Ireland not Brussels. Ireland is just a tax haven to the EU and we are just bled dry to keep the elite wealthy class in power.
@Fred Jensen: No I don’t join the gym I go out an exercise myself. I don’t need a middleman to get healthy.
@eastsmer #IRExit: excellent point that illustrates the parasitic EU to the letter.
Don’t they normally give a link to view the questions phrasing? I have doubts about people wanting a closer knit Europe.
@Maurice Bourke:
Irtish Times poll taken after Brexit had 87% of Irish people wanting to stay in the EU, and just 9% wanting to leave.
@Fred Jensen:
Not the part I’m referring to Fred.
‘Voters also want to see a closer-knit Europe after Britain leaves the Union, with 67% of respondents saying that they want to see further EU integration once a Brexit deal has been agreed’
That’s the one I’m doubting specifically.
@Maurice Bourke: Mauric that is the one that raises hairs on my neck. Overall the Europe project has been positive so far, but I think it has reached, even overstretched, its political limits. I am totally against Federalisation as I think it plays against our interests, we are seen by some in Europe as a low density area ripe for Lebensraum, a small percentage of Europes total immigration numbers would be enough to unbalance any swing votes and defranchise the native population and give Europe unfettered accesss to our large resource areas. It would be for the greater good, just not for our greater good.
@Fred Jensen: More fianna Gael spin and of course a conveniet poll to back up the lie. We don’t believe a word of anything ye say anymore. Ye cry wolf too often for nothing.
@Greg Blake: You just described exactly what the EU has done here already with our assets.
@Nointerest Here: in fairness, the deals, preMaastricht, had some form of balance attached. On the CR side we gained very good market access, some major social justice changes and some decent structural investments. On the DR side we way over paid on fisheries, lost a semistate structure that was of national benefit, surrendered ownership of indigenous services and property rights to private global capital and massively increased our debt, along the way we sacrificed a lot of soverignity and democratic control.
But all this we voted for, sometimes blindly, sometimes out of self interest, but always without reading the fine print. At one stage we had some cards to play, but failed to use them because we were afraid to appear obstructionist, like the Brits. cont…..
… cont. The last few referenda changed everything. We no longer have a say in the future of Europe, its all the Franco-German power bloc. The major ispending has for a long time been on the infrastructure leading to and from the core regions of Europe, where even b roads are major highways and bridge building and tunnelling requirements are no obstacle. The periphery only gets token considerations, and always with more debt attached.
With Brexit the only powerful peripheral player will be gone. We cant afford to follow them. The dynamic will change. full federalisation will happen, with more centralisation and tax changes to bring all major FDI into the centre. We are heading back to Act of Union days, where (excuse the exaggaration) we went from prosperity to famine in half a century.
Stay in yes but I’d say no to closer integration which will only subsume a small nation like Ireland even more. First thing to be ‘harmonised’ would be our corporate tax rate. It’s been made very clear that the EU is run by and for the bigger members so we need to be cautious
@Pat Mustard: No harm if they fixed our police force, our housing, our health service to name a few things we don’t do to well in our own.
@Chef Harold: most people that want to be part of the EU have their own selfish reasons they are on tracker mortgages…. The ECB have signaled to the Germans back in The first quarter of this year that they will start raising interest rates in 2018 when they start tapering the QE…. let’s see what the polls have to say about the EU experiment when rates go up and are not at historic lows but are starting to normalise… The Germans want higher interest rates and both the Germans and French want harmonisation of corporate tax rates…. Before you start on about “we have a veto on corporate rates”…. remember the EU put a gun to our heads and forced us to take the bailout and help bail the bond holders = mainly German and French banks
@Pat Mustard: Collectivisation. EUSSR.
not a very scientific poll, the same as the rubbish polls the journal serves up.
@ktsiwot: How so? Was there something wrong with the sample size, the sampling method or the channel used?
@Chef Harold: oh thats right define the parameters of the response. ha ha No thank you we can see for yourselves.
@Chef Harold: have a look at your great EU experiment…. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jun/26/robert-mundell-evil-genius-euro
What other sort of poll outcome would we expect from rte?
A lot of frustrated anti EU people here this morning desperately trying to discredit this.
P.J. Nolan. Were you first into the fraperoom this morning??
@P.J. Nolan: anti-everything people would be more accurate
@ray.farrelly: shinnerbots out in force this morning, fraperoom fully operational. When i think about the hard border its you and your ilk i am particularly delighted for
@ray.farrelly:
Were you first into shinnerbot school this morning?
There is as much proof one exits as the other.
@P.J. Nolan: Empty vessels make the most noise!
@P.J. Nolan: Yea you find that the majority of Irish people not a developer banker or wealthy will hate the EU. Thats 99 per cent of the country.
@Chef Harold: No not really. I am not anti everything just anti corruption and anti me being raped for a bank to keep the rich in champagne.
@booby sandwiches: No I am not a shinnerbot either. You like that word. Does it compensate you for something. Sinn Fein is not the subject. You seem to have an unnatural fixating with the word shinner. I’d have a word with my GP if I were you. It might be a sign of something more serious and if your not careful you’ll find yourself continually enslaved to ‘below the line’ commentaries repeating shinner shinner shinner. Its quite disturbing to see.
@P.J. Nolan: Repeat after me. Looney left. Shinner bot Looney left Shinner Bot. Is that the content of the last manifesto of Fianna Gaels social media directive guidelines.
@P.J. Nolan: probably Trump supporters as well!
@P.J. Nolan: You’ll probably find that many of these kinds polls (from any end of the spectrum) tend to be self discrediting and are really aimed at underpinning a proposition. They are correctly administered but designed to elicit a desired response, and to hopefully initiate a self fulfilling prophesy. On their own, they don’t add anything to critical thinking, they are only a tool, not gospel.
@Greg Blake:
Ah, someone who tried to argue the point rather than throw out insults.
To a point I would agree, no doubt a poll can be influenced by the way its worded. That said we have no evidence, from the parties we vote for or other opinion polls to indicate that support for the EU isn’t around the 65%-35% area.
It would seen I’m in the majority on this poll, but plenty of times I’m not but I don’t go saying that the poll must be wrong.
Maybe I’m wrong but I’m going to believe this poll over the rantings on here
These things progress ‘little by little’
When we were in the EEC we had a voice now since the EU took over that our voice is a whisper in a loud room.
@eastsmer #IRExit:
As a small country, if we left EU, our voice would be a whisper in the world. In a room or in the world, you choose.
@Sean Wong: irelands voice is heard all over the world but not in ireland
@Eamon Mcgirr:
Irelands voice is heard all over the world on Paddy’s day only.
Given that our living standards depend directly on EU single market membership, you’d want to be a dimwit of the highest proportions, thick as two planks, to advocate Ireland coming out of the EU.
As for the effects of Brexit, it’s the British i’d be more worried about. They don’t know what’s coming.
@Fred Jensen: I like the clever way you called names to people in a sneaky way. Illustrates my point. It is the cowardly approach. The EU is past its sell by date and any fool dope dimwit idiot brainwashed clone thinks otherwise. Hows that.
@Nointerest Here: so you want the politicians that we have to have sole responsibility for the future of Ireland? Have you even thought through what you are even thinking? I remember Ireland in the 80s when the EU was starting to help us and we have come a long, long way since then.
@Nointerest Here:
Sometimes you have to just call a spade a spade and hope you can shock people out of their stupidity. Didn’t work in the UK however. Don’t think there’s any hope for you.
@Fred Jensen: Now you’re worried about the British? That’s not like you. Your comments normally have a severe hate of the Brits embedded. Recent memory of having their cities flattened by the last attempt by Germany to run Europe means that they will dig in and get at it. Having been in business in England during the Thatcher hell I can tell you UK business is at its best when it’s up against a wall. It’s part of the psyche. They don’t feck off to Australia or wherever and hope someone else will fix it. They’ve dealt with a lot worse than Brexit before so don’t worry your little head over them. They’ve paid for the building of the gym and now they’ve left the club.
@Nointerest Here: it is usually a couple of very loud people ranting about the EU based on BS they found online.
Your kind is still spouting nonsense about unelected bureocrats and the EU’s days being numbered while in the real word facts point towards a resurgence of support for the EU and a renewed interest in further integration.
Of course Brexit will be bad for us. We are a tiny country, and our Neighbours have just decided to blast themselves away from the EU. Hard, soft, whatever shape or form Brexit eventually takes, we will take a hit.
But being in the EU will lessen the blow. A lot. Either there are a lot of trolls on this site, or people forget that we have benefited hugely from EU membership.
@Peter Mc Hugh: Unfortunately a lot of people here are easily lead.
@Peter Mc Hugh: “But being in the EU will lessen the blow.” – in what way? They’re going to come to our rescue this time?
@Plus Prom: I don’t exactly know how it will lessen the blow. However, I do believe the EU has benefitted us more so than most care to admit, free trade with 27 other economies and EU funding alone is reason enough to stay in. Further integration is a firm no for me at the moment, our tax rate needs to be protected.
@Aaron O’Leary: Agree. Ireland has certainly benefitted in the past from EU Membership, and certain sectors continue to benefit from EU funding – no doubt about it.
But the current democratic deficit in the EU needs addressing and I wouldn’t hold my breath on any meaningful EU reforms.
@Peter Mc Hugh: No Not trolls. People who can see through the lies perpetrated by Fianna Gael trolls who like to bully and name call anyone who sees the truth that the EU is only benefiting the bankers. Time to ditch the EU like the UK. Well done to them. They will survive and thrive but the cowards running this country have no back bone or stones to stand up and be country. Cowards know only one way the way of the paymaster.
@Aaron O’Leary: The bailout showed us the true colours of the EU and its treatment of Greece. The EU is finished. The threatened the Greeks with starvation if they didn’t accept their bailout. What a wonderful ‘union’. Parasitic in nature.
@Nointerest Here: What lies would these be? Have you actually got a list? You must have, you claim there are multiple ones out there, so let’s hear them! Only benefitting the bankers…and the farmers…and young workers who want to travel…and those who like using hospitals…and motorways…and students of course, can’t forget those…
@Plus Prom: If Ireland were out on our own, using our own currency again, we would be once again at the mercy of those who like to manipulate currency markets. We are too small to not be easily manipulated.
Also, access to EU funding will help areas badly hit by the coming ‘issues’, from those around the Border, to Irish farmers, and of course hauliers.
This is not going to be good, things are going to be a mess for a while, but it could be a whole lot worse.
@Plus Prom: Sorry for the repeat reply, however I missed your second comment. Which democratic deficit is this?
@Plus Prom: Agreed. The EU certainly needs to address it’s democratic deficit. A directly elected commission president needs to be put in place in some fashion, only issue with that is why would a Polish citizen ever vote for a French candidate? @Nointerest Here, the EU is not finished, no where near it. Stop being a troll.
@Peter Mc Hugh: Although not as powerful as eurosceptics would like you to believe, the commission not being directly elected is definitely a reason for a lot people to establish a major distrust of the EU.
@Aaron O’Leary: I can understand a distrust of the Commission. However they are pretty much the Civil Service of the EU. They do the grunt work, under instruction from the EP and the Council.
Brussels is remarkably transparent, but they make a great bogeyman.
@Aaron O’Leary: I do not know where the so called democratic deficit lies honestly. The role of the commission is to draft legislation and recommendations and uphold EU law already in place.
The only decision making body is really the European Council which consists of the democratically elected leaders of the member states.
As it is the EU is imperfect but it is meant to be a transitional phase towards a more integrated, more federal – like structure.
We should get out and rejoin the UK along side our Scottish , Welsh and English brothers . We are a nation of Brits not Europeans .
@Sean O Brien: Don’t feed the troll
@Sean O Brien: Thats what Fianna Gael loves. They would run to the queen given the chance. Grovelling is their speciality.
@Karl Wallace: A troll that speaks for the majority of Ireland.
@Nointerest Here: no he doesn’t
Brexit voters wanted self determination. They were right. We are happy to be railroaded into a United States of Europe. It is on the way
Exactly shows how dumb the Irish people are….dumb as two planks…and i am Irish…
@Johnnathan Biskalero: Yes you are too right. I too am Irish to the core but the electorate are easily led sheep. The younger generation can see through established parties but the majority have no idea about politics and vote in the same Fianna everytime.
@Nointerest Here: Naivety alert! Maybe you’re forgetting that us old sheep were young rebels once. Thankfully with life experience you eventually see how it all works. Compare Ireland to other countries and you will find that we have one of the most open minded, democratic and inclusive societies in the world. It’s certainly not perfect but compare Ireland today to Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s. The (positive) changes are immense
@Nointerest Here: But this isn’t about the political parties , its a simple question of economics. Most people are pragmatic and cant see the value in taking on the risk that would arise with our small open econmey leaving the EU.
@Soccer T’s: No I have to disagree. Ireland has a veneer of modernity but just beneath the surface is the old prejudices and when it comes to the ballot box the default position is back to the same old party. Why do you think they keep repeating the same mistakes. For example you probably voted for someone you have voted for in the past with the same tired philosophy.
Not the way the EU has evolved. Unelected bureaucrats are make horrible decisions for Ireland and imposing policies that are damaging the most vulnerable people in the country. I want out of it.
@Nointerest Here: Good man there are ferrys leaving for the UK every few hours you should have no problem getting on one.
@Nointerest Here: you’re making no sense. You want us out of the EU but you don’t want our politicians? You’re like a big baby!
@Johnnathan Biskalero: kys please
RTE will always try influence the public. I don’t want to be part of this EU. The one that inflicted debt of massive proportion on the people to keep the status quo. The same one whom had our homes taxed. The ones whom want us to pay to drink life sustaining water . We pay already. The same one whom ensured the privatisation of our services leading to huge increase of dumping across the state. The one raping our forestry and fishing grounds. The one whom cares little for this little island on the periphery of this monster state , until now to use us as a stick to punish the UK. Ireland needs out to save itself , and lies from RTE supporting the elitist FFs and FGs of this country do little for the average Paddy. Europe will never be any good for Paddy , well the ones not wealthy ….
@Willy Malone: Oh believe me every single day the Irish people are waking and can see the parassitic EU forwhat it is. Thanks to social media and the internet Fianna Gael and the EU are seen for what they are. The interestes of the corrupt elite. The ordinary person on the street can now see this as clear as day and no amount of Fianna Gael trolling can change that, Why do you think we defeated the water rates. The people will decide not Fianna Gael. Time are changing and the rich and the parties that support them will feel the anger of the people.
More brainwashing by RTE.politicians want two government’s,so politicians do no lose their seats, which is unacceptable.
One wonders what we would have done without the EU, in our time of need? Our National Debt is still about €200 billion, and some are even against paying that back (or part thereof) from the AIB sale proceeds!
@Fank Pulman:
Odious Debt:
In international law, odious debt, also known as illegitimate debt, is a legal doctrine that holds that the national debt incurred by a regime for purposes that do not serve the best interests of the nation, should not be enforceable.
Sounds familiar?
Still wonder why ‘some’ are against paying this?
@Yenreit: Rubbish – our elected government borrowed the money, on our behalf.
@Paul Foot: Not on our behalf. They are traitors. They bailed out the rich and punished the poor. Lies here is galling. They did NOT ask us if we wanted it. We do not nor should not pay it,
@Nointerest Here: We, the electorate, put these people into government – and have them the authority to act (including borrow) on our behalf. Simple.
Seems about right , the vast majority of people are pragmatic and not hung up ideology like the hard left commentariat that vent on this site. Most people may not like how some of the EU works , but know leaving would would be economic suicide for our small open econmey.
@Robert Woodward: Most people are not terrified to stand up on their own feet. You have a terrible impression of being Irish. It seems to mean cowering for the EU. Most people want to leave why do you think they voted against treaties in their millions only to have the EU undermine the democratic wishes of the people. Thats the EU a bully.
@Nointerest Here: Most people do not want to leave.
I`d like to know what % of the population watch RTE for a start,then you can work out more accurately what % actually are in favour of whatever is being put to the voters ? this way of picking a 1000 people who watch a particular show and expecting to get a realistic result
is rediculious, the only way to get a realistic result would be to go out onto the street country wide and ask aequal number of people in each area the same questions, one of which should be “do you watch RTE and when”….
@Peter donnelly: Only Fianna Gael and the well off.
I think if the UK had to vote again the ordarney British people would vote to stay.
There is only one poll that is to ask the people with a referendum.
Rte opinion poll
About as useful as a trapdoor in a canoe
At one time we had our own trading block . It was call the British Empire . A union today of Ireland , England ,Scotland and Wales and its empire would have giving us a trading block of 72 countries covering 3 billion people with a GDP of 13 trillion . The uk with a population just over 70 million people would of enjoy more wealth then the US . It was all destroy by republicanism that turn us into slaves in the world .
@Sean O Brien: yeah you’d want out of that too for no good reason!
Who took the poll? Government politicians? Crock of crap.
I’m a subscriber to the philosophy of Tony Ben’s five questions WHAT POWER HAVE YOU GOT? WHERE DID YOU GET IT FROM? IN WHOSE INTERESTS DO YOU EXERCISE IT? TO WHOM ARE YOU ACCOUNTABLE? HOW CAN WE GET RID OF YOU? (Caps came with the paste)
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: very good
The majority of problems with the EU stem from the euro. This isn’t an all or nothing decision and shouldn’t be viewed as such. Personally I support our membership of the EU but vehemently oppose the euro. Just because the EU is good overall doesn’t means we don’t have the right to want change. With the euro gone we can never be bullied into acting against our own interests again. The euro is a knife at the throat of every member state and the civil servants are willing to use it. Remember what happened to Greece.
The English want out of Europe, they should start by leaving norn iron and Gibraltar. As regards our much feted sovereignty; do the half a dozen clowns that use the comment section to vent their whack job views on everything really think that if we leave the EU all our ills will vanis and we will no longer Bevin hock to the imf?
@Seán O’Keeffe: more name calling to deflect from the increasingly growing trend that sees the EU as a parasite. Yes some of us can stand up on our own two feet. We don’t need to be led by the hand or angela Merkel.
Im more interested in the maintenance of the common travel area in the British & Irish Islands than I am in remaining in the EU, even though I dont want a complete breakdown of the European project. Id also like to see a confederation of the islands, with each constituent nation being independent but pooling sovereignty on certain issues.
The answer to the question depends on the way the question is delivered. Do you want to remain in a Union with ever closer Union with a strong military able to impose the will of the EU in all corners of the world? Do you want a fiscal union where corporation taxes are unified? Do you want to be in a union where refugees are farmed out to all countries based on population density? Do you want to remain in an EU wants water conservation legislation that is the same across the union be you in desert like regions of Spain or sodden Ireland? Do you agree that we should buy new war ships & proper fighter jets to defend our borders? It depends what you ask, you makes your choices & deal with the costs thereafter
test
I would vote out, hate this corrupt, elitest organization, not fit for purpose
The other three are what? Mentally ill?
If the EU continue to attempt to meddle in our tax affairs that might change
Bullshit
Brexit eexit…Ah sure don’t mind em they’re only saying that…it’s possibly the next big thing. The English would love to see a campaign here to leave eu…..they might even offer a bit of support..very generous they are..
have your say