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Eurotown tells Mandelson where to stick it
June 12, 2008
Today’s referendum is for Irish voters and the question is about Europe. But one of the paradoxes of modern Ireland and the confident role it plays in European affairs is that America’s presence is felt - and celebrated - everywhere in the country. Take O’Dea’s Hotel, a family-run establishment is the town of Loughrea, County Galway.
As I walked into the lobby at 8 o’clock this morning , having spent three hours driving west from Dublin and talking to bleary-eyed voters in Loughrea as they emerged from their polling station, whose face should I spot beaming at me from a photo on the reception desk but that of Bill Clinton.
The ex-president was a frequent visitor to Ireland during this eight years in office, as was, according to local accounts - his daughter Chelsea. Both were made exceptionally welcome, as US presidents and their families always have been in Ireland.
But it so happens that some years ago Loughrea was designated Ireland’s “Eurotown”, in a project that saw several dozen local small businesses switch to the euro from the old Irish pound on an accelerated basis. Their experiences were then used to help small businesses elsewhere in Ireland get used to the single European currency.
There’s not a lot in Loughrea these days to remind you that it was once Eurotown. But in the surrounding countryside you see quite a a few No campaign posters, put up by those who want Ireland to reject the European Union’s Lisbon treaty.
Though I have nothing against Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, one of the most eye-catching No posters is the one that displays a huge pitchfork and the words : “Tell Mandelson where to stick it.”
Be that as it may, the fact is that American culture, American business practices, American investment and American people are a big part of what makes modern Ireland tick and feel proud of itself. The Irish have achieved the clever and admirable feat of making themselves liked in Europe without sacrificing their close connections with the US.
In some countries on the Continent, a European identity is treated as something that almost by definition must be in opposition to America. Not so in Ireland.
There is a lesson there for another island on the north-west coast of Europe, that’s for sure.
A few comments.
Eire made good use of the EU funds that flowed its way over the years: and that shows in their infrastructure. They certainly had the gift of the gab when it came to extracting EU money (whilst keeping the EU “sweet” about it)?
They also made excellent use of a policy that could be called “sinn fein” (for us): which attracted many ex-pat Irish back home, from the USA especially. Clearly they brought back with them the savoir-faire of US business practices, etc, as well as the US life-style.
Most European countries are not anti-US per se; more suspicious of their strong-arm tactics, whether at governmental or big business levels. Most European countries prefer to discuss and the word “compromise” is not an epithet.
Posted by: derek tunnicliffe | June 12th, 2008 at 4:09 pm | Report this commentgot it in one
Europe has been great for Ireland over the last 30 years, the investment in infrastructure and the impact of progressive social legislation on what was a dreary and stagnant culture.
However without the adoption of american business practices and dynamism over the last 20 years
Posted by: Matt Burke | June 12th, 2008 at 11:46 pm | Report this commentthe celtic tiger would not have happennned. Not even close. The US showed us how and we made it happen, an overnight success after 30 years of slogging away at it.
Given the huge numbers and influence of Irish immigrants in America over the centuries, it’s not surprising that Americans feel at home in Ireland or that American business culture could be adopted so easily in Ireland. I think an important part the similarity is the rejection of class differences and the resulting possibility of social mobility. The founder of Ryanair, as an example I recently saw, was the son of a train driver. He had moved from those humble roots, without a university education, to become a billionaire. That’s the kind of mobility one would expect to see in America.
Posted by: Tony K | June 13th, 2008 at 3:44 am | Report this commentThat picture of Bill Clinton in O’Dea’s is a digitally created fake - just goes to show you can never believe what you read in the papers even if it is the FT.
Posted by: Loughrea Insider | June 13th, 2008 at 11:12 am | Report this commentThree points:
Posted by: Pat O\'Connor | June 13th, 2008 at 3:36 pm | Report this comment1. Ireland recieved extensive support for their agriculatural sector from the EU, but handed over it’s entire fishing grounds.
2. US inward investment, along with a flexible government and workforce were the main creators of the so called Celtic Tiger.
3. When a French minister tells us we can’t exercise our democratic right and vote no, that alone increased the no vote by a percentage point or two - Ireland had to fight hard for the right to vote.
Mandelson’s track record with his mortgage (to say nothing of his manner of appointment) and Bertie Ahern’s with “the horses” and the seemingly endless series of stories of expense account fiddling by MEPs and worse by Irish politicians surely contributed to the prevailing public cynicism about politicians. This sentiment is not confined to Ireland, as a visit to www.order-order.com will demonstrate, nor to the British Isles.
Even if the Irish recanted tomorrow, Europe’s politicians need to reflect on this and show that they’ve received the message, which only the Irish were able to transmit, and will act on it. I am not hopeful.
Posted by: Eats Wombats | June 15th, 2008 at 9:26 pm | Report this comment