Brexit news - Irish economics professor says country mustn't follow Britain out of EU
GETTY Ireland should not follow Britain out of the EU, an economics professor has said
Kevin Hjortshøj O’Rourke said Britain’s decision to quit the bloc would be a “civics lesson on a grand scale” for voters on the rest of the continent. He said Ireland had benefitted hugely from joining the project and that any suggestions the country should follow the UK’s lead were “absurd”.
Professor O’Rourke, who works at Trinity College Dublin and Oxford University, made the remarks in an opinion piece for the Irish Times. He said the decision to leave the EU had been driven by “English nationalists [who] don’t care about any damage that their project may do to Ireland”.
Ireland above all other member states faces an uncertain future as a result of Brexit, as it is the only country to share a land border with the UK. British ministers have floated the idea of creating a mini Schengen zone within the British Isles, allowing continued free movement of people between Ireland and the UK, though that will not solve potential customs issues. Dublin is also still heavily reliant on Britain as its main trading partner - 17 per cent of Irish exports go to the UK - and any tariff barriers put up could badly hit its growing economy. But Professor O’Rourke claimed any impacts from Brexit on Ireland will be nothing compared to the “lesson” people in the UK are about to learn from leaving the EU’s single market.
Brexit will forcibly remind us of the core benefits of EU membership Kevin O'Rourke
He said: “The best thing that can be said for Brexit is that it is a teachable moment: an admittedly very expensive, but also very useful, civics lesson on a grand scale. “Those who will learn the most are in Britain, but the rest of us will also benefit. And there is a considerable upside to that, especially on the periphery of the eurozone. “Brexit will forcibly remind us of these core benefits of EU membership…[and] is making us all appreciate the economic benefits of the EU customs union and single market, and that is good.” Professor O’Rourke said that the Single Market was “an extraordinary achievement” though he admitted there are problems with the euro, the EU’s “democratic deficit” and many other crises “bedevilling Europe”.
Theresa May meets new Taoiseach latest pictures Mon, June 19, 2017 Play slideshow PA 1 of 5 Prime Minister Theresa May with new Taoiseach Leo Varadkar during a joint press conference following a meeting at 10 Downing Street, London