Republic of Ireland & European Economic Community

Republic of Ireland & European Economic Community

Thesis Statement

“Why did the Republic of Ireland join the European Economic Community in 1973?”

Introduction

On January 1st, 1973 the Republic of Ireland made a wise decision to join the European Economic Community (EEC). An overwhelming majority of the population believed that joining the EEC would be beneficial for the country and its citizens. The economy of the country flourished a great deal after joining the European Economic Community. Before joining the EEC, the country's economy was in a bad condition and was faced with enormous challenges. The Republic of Ireland was under the verge of economic collapse when the wise decision was made become a part of the European Economic Community. The decision brought about positive changes and helped the country flourish in different avenues (Goodman, 2000, pp. n.d.).

Discussion

Republic of Ireland & EEC

Before joining the EEC, Ireland was considered as one of the poorest countries in the European Union. According to the European Commission, in 1973 when Ireland joined the EEC, the country had a high rate of unemployment and the country's average income added up to less than 60% of other member countries of the EEC. Ireland was also facing issues due to high emigration. Primarily due to the economic instability, the Republic of Ireland was considered as an "Object 1" region between the periods of 1975 to 1999 (Hourihane, 2002, pp. 9).

Today, Ireland is regarded as one of the richest and most stable economies in Europe. The massive growth of the country could be attributed to a variety of reasons i.e. establishment of a stable political system, availability of educated English-speaking citizens and a huge market of consumers from the European Union.

An Overview of Irish Economy

It was even after becoming the member state, there were political leaders like Sean Lemmas and Jack Lynch who still had question and queries about how would Ireland progress if it had become the member of the European economic community. Europe which had invited Ireland to be its member in the economy wasn't too sure as to how Ireland would help them prosper in a divisional structure as the agricultural based economy of Ireland was brought to a halt because dependence on the UK market had increased. The country no doubt had suffered from great poverty, unemployment and emigration. These are the overall factors to describe the economic movements of any country of the world (Hayward, 2009, pp. n.d.)

According to Holmes (2005), unrestricted trade between the member countries of European Union has added to the efficiency of the Irish economy. Fair trade relations between the countries have allowed Ireland to gain its position in the European market. The trade adds to the Foreign Direct Investment of the country (pp. 36). Also, the European Union has circulated billions of dollars in the Irish economy to break up the existing monopolies in business and International trade. Low corporate taxes in Ireland also attract investors and businesses to consider it a viable ...