The year 1998 invites us to reflect on the two centuries that have elapsed since the birth of modern Irish nationalism, inspired by the United Irishmen of 1798.
The real prospect of a fair and honourable political settlement emerging from the Northern talks in the months ahead gives this particular anniversary added resonance. The New Year also encourages us to look back on 25 years of our membership of what is now the European Union. Moreover, the lessons that membership has taught us are relevant to the issues of nationality and independence raised by the bicentenary of the 1798 rising.
In 1967, when I was a young Dail deputy serving with Mr Sean Lemass on the Constitutional Review Committee, I can well remember how deeply he regretted the failure of our first attempt to join the European Community. Mr Lemass's generation, having fought for and gained Ireland's freedom, viewed the European Community as an opportunity to chart wider horizons of economic and political advancement. Our European journey has richly fulfilled these expectations.
The step taken in the late 1960s to renew our request for membership was, I believe, one of the defining moments in our recent history. Looking back over this century, it seems to me that the first 50 years were devoted mainly to the pursuit and consolidation of independence. In the period from the mid-1950s onwards our focus has increasingly been on the quest for prosperity, for economic arrangements through which our people could fulfil their potential without recourse to emigration.
EU membership has offered a framework within which to pursue the economic fruits of independence. It has enabled us to plot a future that was beyond our imagining in earlier decades. While there are absolutely no grounds for complacency, we have every right to derive satisfaction from the economic gains made in recent years. The task ahead of us is to ensure that these gains are consolidated, and become a sustainable reality for all of our citizens. Just as it has done over the last 25 years, the European Union will, I believe, provide an essential context for this next phase of our national development.
The manifold benefits of our membership of the European Union have been eloquently expressed on these pages over the past week. The extent to which our national prosperity, measured in GDP per capita relative to the European average, advanced between 1973 and the present speaks for itself. In 1973, our wealth level stood at 57 per cent of the EU average, while now we have topped the 100 per cent mark.
Unhindered access for our exports to a large and diverse market, guaranteed prices and supports to agriculture and the increased attractiveness to foreign investors of Ireland as a member of the European Union were all key factors in the expansion of economic activity and the consequent increase in prosperity of the last 25 years. Thrust into the competitive environment of the European marketplace, we have risen to the challenge and, through investment in education and training, have built a competitive and dynamic economy that is repaying the effort that went into its creation. Unemployment is falling steadily and, under the able leadership of Commissioner Padraig Flynn, reducing unemployment levels is a priority for EU action.
While fully acknowledging the economic relevance of the Union, I would suggest that some of the other advantages of membership have been just as important, but perhaps not as fully appreciated. Over the last 25 years Irish people have, through travel, trade connections and working in EU countries, gained first-hand experience of the realities of modern Europe.
Membership has also required us to diversify our international relations. Our embassies are staffed by highly-qualified personnel, dedicated to ensuring that Ireland derives full advantage from, and makes an important contribution to, the largest trading unit in the world. Membership has also put our relationship with Britain on a new footing, as fellow members of a wider Union rather than as practitioners of what had earlier sometimes been a successively intensive bilateral relationship. We have now ceased to define ourselves with undue reference to that single relationship. I have no doubt that our mutual European involvement has been a positive factor in Anglo-Irish relations, contributing to the climate of close co-operation between the two governments that characterises current efforts to resolve the divisions which have bedeviled the island of Ireland for so long. The EU is a potent example of the power possessed by co-operation and common action to transcend divisions and conquer even deeply-rooted conflict. Now there's a lesson for this island for 1998.
By making us more outwardlooking, our European involvement has, I believe, had a positive impact on our national identity. Entailing as it does an intensive exposure to European concerns and cultures, the EU has afforded us a wider reference point for the expression of our Irishness. I take particular pleasure in the renewed interest now being shown in the Irish language. This is due in no small part to the impact of our membership of the European Union. The Irish language, as an official language of the Union, is being nurtured as never before and otherwise inaccessible resources have been channelled into its preservation.
Since our accession, we have been shareholders in an ambitious European enterprise, making our own distinctive contribution to the building of a stronger Union at a time of economic challenge and political change in Europe. The EU has been instrumental in reinforcing economic and political progress in Europe as the democratic fold spread southwards to Greece, Portugal and Spain and, eventually, to eastern Europe also with the ending of the Cold War. It is crucial for the Ireland of tomorrow that the EU should continue to function as a force for peace and prosperity in the Europe of the 21st century.
And what of our future within the EU? We are poised to embark on the next stage of our evolution in the vanguard of European nations within the Union. A decision is to be taken soon on which countries will enter Economic and Monetary Union, when it becomes a reality in just under a year from now. Within the short space of three years, the European single currency, the euro, is set to be in general use. This will represent a momentous development. The single currency will greatly enhance the operation of the European single market, which has been such an asset to our export-oriented economy.
The process leading to the Union's next enlargement is due to be launched in March. This is indeed a historic event, considering that the first wave of EU enlargement in the next century will involve countries which not long ago were on the other side of a seemingly unbridgeable east-west divide.
Enlargement represents a major challenge for Europe, but will bring important opportunities as well. With our own recent experience of rapid economic development, there is considerable potential for expanding our economic and trading links with the applicant countries, just as we have done so successfully with existing member-states over the past 25 years. As a European nation, we have a vital interest in the welfare of Europe as a whole in the coming decades. This is something to which a dynamic European Union, with an enlarged membership, has an indispensable contribution to make. The next stage in the evolution of Ireland's EU membership begins shortly when the Irish people will be asked to ratify the Amsterdam Treaty, which involves the strengthening of the Union, its policies and institutions, as well as paving the way for its future enlargement.
David Andrews is Minister for Foreign Affairs