by Evan O’Gorman.
In less than 1512 hours – or 63 days to be less precise – Britain will make the most important decision of its nation’s existence in the past 70 years: a decision that will affect the lives of their people across the commonwealth; a decision that will jeopardise the EU and everything it has created; a decision that will decide the future of the United Kingdom. To be or not to be, that is the question.
But who am I to say? Surely being from – and living in – an independent republic shan’t have the right to occupy my concerns? In that case, why the misleading headline?
Before getting into the nitty-gritty details and mind numbing economics of it all, look at it like this.
Let’s imagine the E.U as a human body. We’ll call him Edward Urie. It’s a normal, healthy, human body made up of several limbs. These limbs are broken down into bone, muscle, organs, blood… you get the point. There are some parts of the body that are vital in order for it’s survival: the Brain (Germany), the Heart (France) and the lungs (Belgium). Then there are a few which it does not need, and are often removed when they begin to cause damage; for example,the Appendix (Greece).
So now let us look at Edward’s arm. The arm is used indirectly for pretty much 99% of our daily functions. Why do I say indirectly? When you think about it, your hands are what you use for the majority of these activities.
Take Edward, and remove his arm. (sorry, Ed).
Now Edward has no arm. But what does that matter? We’ve already established that you don’t really use your arm anyway, it’s the hands that matter.
But without your arms, what use are your hands?
Ireland is a small nation with an overwhelming sense of national pride and heritage. We are looked on with praise by every country on the planet, and Her people are scattered like ants in every crevasse of the globe.
Sure we’ve had our struggles, both past and present, but Ireland continues to remain proud, confident, and most of all strong.
In 1511 hours now, this could all change.
Despite it’s small size and geographical location, Ireland is an important member of the E.U. Our competitive corporation tax rates see home to hundreds of multinational corporations – those of who have no problem relocating to central Europe if it weren’t for their higher tax rates.
Ireland’s largest trading partner in Europe – and the world – is Britain.
According to the Institute of International European Affairs, Ireland’s agri-food exports to Britain exceeded 40% of their overall agri-food exports in 2009, with approximately 20% of Britain’s exports coming to Ireland.
Obviously there is the geographical element that makes trading between Ireland and Britain very convenient. But one of the most important factors to this trade partnership is the E.U trade laws. Countries within the E.U can trade with a lot more ease than those on the outside.
The export figures mentioned previously are the reason for the creation of roughly 208,000 jobs – equal to about 175,000 families – within the UK.
Likewise in Ireland, the figures estimate that around 198,000 jobs are the result of this trade partnership. That represents 10% of Irish employed.
With employment gradually recovering from one of the worst spells in Irish history, the last thing we need is an added 10% to that figure. That being said, these statistics represent only the agricultural industry. Imagine the figures if we incorporated technology, medicine, vehicles, entertainment, natural resources… the list goes on.
So how’s Edward getting on?
After losing his arm, he realised that it was in fact his hand he needed. With no connection to his hand, he has lost many of his abilities. And, in the time it has taken you to read this poorly articulated article – his hand has decayed beyond repair.
1510 hours.
