The big act of connection was the idea, although frustrated by De Gaulle in 1961, that Ireland, because it traded so much with Britain, would seek to connect with the European Economic Community along with Britain. That vision was carried forward by Lemass, Whitaker, Lynch, Hillery and Garret FitzGerald, people who brought real political vision and leadership to move the State from isolation to connection, from being closed to being open, from a pervasive sense of failure to a new spring in its step. The connection with the European Union was made part of the driving force, the traction and pulling mechanism, to lift us from isolation to connection, from failure to opportunity.