Professor John McHale:

On a more general point, this issue has to be considered from its historical perspective. Even prior to independence, the State struggled to develop. It was not until the 1950s that we hit on a strategy, as a small open economy at the edge of Europe, that has worked well in integrating us into international production changes and getting global companies to locate part of their activities in Ireland. On the whole this strategy has served us well and the economy and living standards have improved more than they would have otherwise done.