Eoin Drea is a senior researcher at the Wilfried Martens Centre, the official think tank of the European People’s Party (of which Fine Gael is a member), and an occasional contributor to the opinion pages of The Irish Times, where he is often critical of Ireland’s approach to Europe.

Recently he wrote that “Ireland’s recent hissy fit at not being invited to a pre-EU summit meeting in Belgium speaks volumes as to where Dublin ranks in the minds of our fellow EU members”.

On today’s Inside Politics podcast he talks to Hugh Linehan about how Ireland’s influence in Europe has declined, why he believes Ireland’s political discourse around Europe is naive and lacking strategic depth and what “two-speed” EU development could look like - with or without Ireland as a key player.

He also talks about how Ireland is viewed as being “in the pocket of the US multinationals”.