MacGILL SUMMER SCHOOL: Ireland may have lost some of the goodwill that it once had with other EU countries, former Taoiseach, Dr Garret FitzGerald, told the Patrick MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal yesterday, writes Chris Ashmore,in Glenties
Speaking on the theme "The Irish Economy in the European Union - How have we done?" Dr Fitzgerald maintained that Ireland has benefited more than any other country from joining the EU.
He said that this was largely due to two factors: the particular combination of policies that the EU adopted happened to favour Ireland more than anyone else; and the fact that the long term policies by Irish governments were well managed.
Although having only 1 per cent of the EEC's population, it managed to receive 13 per cent of the Social Fund and 6 per cent of the Regional Fund, initially.
However, he also pointed out that the goodwill towards Ireland from other EU countries was a key factor in enabling this country to get more than its share of EU funds.
This was partly attributable to the way in which we handled matters when we held the presidency of the EU, he claimed. We were seen to have presided over periods of action and this goodwill, especially from France and Germany, was translated into serious benefits.
But, he contended, we may have lost some of the goodwill and he felt that in the past ten years the input of Irish governments, apart from into the Amsterdam Treaty, had been passive. The result was that even before the Nice Treaty we were in trouble.
"The goodwill factor is crucial. We now have ill-will which we might consolidate to the point of disaster if we vote No to the Nice Treaty," he said.
Prof Brendan Walsh from the Economics Department of UCD, told the audience that it was a "daunting task" to discuss how Ireland has fared since joining the EU in terms of how we would have developed otherwise.
He noted that even prior to membership the opening up of the economy to outside influences had begun, and liberalisation in many areas could have occurred without membership of the EEC, although it would undoubtedly have been delayed.
Shortly after our entry the energy crisis meant our growth rate plummeted and "mistaken policy errors" resulted in serious underperformance from the end of the 1970s until well into the 1980s. It has only been since the 1990s that we have seen Ireland move up the international league table of GDP per person from 24th and into the top 10. The total population employed outside of agriculture had risen from 25 per cent in the 1980s to over 40 per cent now. "This structural change - rather than any sudden productivity miracle - accounts for most of Ireland's catch up with the leaders," he maintained.
Demographic changes, declining unemployment, greater participation by women in the workforce, and the replacement of net emigration by the highest net immigration rate in the EU were influential in bringing about this structural change. .
"Once our economy was open to international trade and investment, our educational levels up to European levels, our birth rate down to the average, and the effects of policy mistakes undone, the economy caught up very rapidly," he continued. EU Structural Funds helped fund a resumption of capital spending which had been pared down.
He felt that Ireland's economic fortunes had fluctuated as "a member of Europe". It was his belief that membership was neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for economic progress. But, on balance, he concluded that membership has been very beneficial, "if only as a catalyst for change that while possible outside the club would probably have been much slower in coming".
Meanwhile, Mr Fergus Finlay, the former adviser to Mr Dick Spring, said he felt the electorate must vote in favour of the Nice Treaty this time.
However, he warned that the "politics of fear and anxiety are the hardest to counter". He said the Government will have to counter any messages that people will lose by voting for the treaty by the message that they will really lose by voting against it.