Ireland's sovereignty is probably gone for good

Posted on Friday, November 18, 2011 at 05:46 PM

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Enda Kenny and Angela Merkel
before this week's Irish-German spat

There is uproar in Ireland today following yesterday's revelation that last night the German parliament discussed an Irish government document on its budget for next year. Many people are outraged that our tax rates, welfare payments and other government expenditures were discussed in Germany's parliament before it was up for debate in Ireland's parliament. The Irish government is outraged that the document was leaked.

Why is the government so shocked? The shock is mostly contrived. Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny tried a bit of the tough guy act in Germany yesterday and his German counterpart called his bluff. The budget document was leaked by the Germans as a way of letting Kenny know that he's not in control; they are.

I don't understand why so many others, especially in the Irish media, are outraged. Haven't these people been paying attention? We had to be bailed out back in November 2010. We're still beholden to those who bailed us out. Yet the media is acting as if the implications of the bail-out are a complete shock. The penny only finally dropped today.

"Germany is our new master" is the headline across the today's front page of the Irish Daily Mirror.

Yet, Germany has been "our master" for more than a year. Ireland is not a sovereign nation. We have been giving away bits and pieces of our sovereignty for the better part of 25 years, but all pretense at being a sovereign nation evaporated last year when, essentially, we entered Chapter 11. That's the way it goes.
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The hard truth is our sovereignty is probably gone forever. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that in exchange for Germany committing to fixing the problems in the euro she is seeking a fiscal union across the Eurozone (the 17 EU nations that use the euro). This is what triggered Kenny's tough talk - he told Merkel that her plans for a fiscal union were a step too far.

Yet as last night's leak makes plain, we have limited choice in the matter. If the Germans want a fiscal union, they'll probably get one. The only decision left to us at that stage will be do we want greater sovereignty and greater hardship or less of both? We will get a vote on it, but if we vote yes - as I suspect we will - that will mean the end of independence.

We will head towards the centenary celebration of the 1916 Easter Rising against British rule knowing we spent roughly the first half of that century trying to achieve greater independence and the second half giving it all away again. By 2016 we will have completed a century long swap of British rule for German.

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tievemore | Nov 19, 2011, 09:49 PM EST

FAZ (German newspaper) did an interview with Ireland's Prime Minister recently and this was the very start of the conversation: FAZ: "Mr Irish prime minister, do you speak German?" Mr Kenny: "I can only say good day, but my children are learning."

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sirpeter | Nov 19, 2011, 08:00 PM EST

*Sh*ts on everyone below.Look at the whole lot of ye.Pretending to have Irish blood.Ye servile cretin's.Already giving up.It's just another attempt at invasion.Nothing new.Nothing a few hundred of us can't handle. Becareful Bilgegate looks like the Hun is going to uproot ye West Brits for good.I see an opportunity there.Is that Sinn Fein waiting in the wings.hahaha.What~are~the~Brits~going~to~do??hahaha.Leave us to the Hun??hahaha.The Hun is taking over Europe and the UK is fu*ked too.And so isolated.*Sings Bob Dylan*And the Times they are a changin'.

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donegalcali | Nov 19, 2011, 05:20 PM EST

Great article, any chance of more of this rhetoric? About time someone told it like it is. How about examining the implications of pulling out of the euro, printing our own punts.Will anyone do business with us? How did Iceland do it? Will the global mafia allow it?

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LoyalCitizen | Nov 19, 2011, 02:48 PM EST

Irish Politicians surrendered the Irish Constitution in 1996 by allowing the use of opinions in law.....Opinions in law deny people protection by law....When chosen in a referendum the Irish People give up their right to protection by law and cannot be victims, there can be no crime, which includes crimes of war.

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RedBranch | Nov 19, 2011, 11:24 AM EST

'By 2016 we will have completed a century long swap of British rule for German.' Great last sentence which succiently puts it as it is..With our gallant allies...

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Towngate | Nov 19, 2011, 07:24 AM EST

Ireland never has had 'sovereignty'. ~ except perhaps briefly for eight hundred years as part of the British Empire. As it will probably be another eight hundred years before it repays its current Nation-saving borrowing,it never will have! ~ 2016 will hopefully mark the end of the Irish Interrugnum - during which it made a 'Right Hames','Pigs Ear', and Dogs Dinner' of itself!

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tempranillo | Nov 18, 2011, 08:12 PM EST

Ireland has systematically ceded marks of sovereignty over time. When Ireland adopted the Euro, it ceded monetary policy to the Bundesbank aka ECB---tho most neither recognize nor understand that. It has agreed to the Lisbon treaty and other documents and directives from Brussels. Why the outcry. I will point out that Straßenschilder sind noch nicht in Deutsch. Ich werde dann wirklich besorgt, als RTE beschließt, die Flippers spielen

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