Seanad debates
Thursday, 6 November 2003
European Communities (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage.
I say that because over the 30 years we have been in the EU, it has been very clear that the enthusiasm the Irish people have shown for the European project has been based very much on the fact that it was in our economic interest to do so. The economic argument has always been so overwhelming that we have not paid very much attention to the other factors involved. We went into the EU because of the goodies that membership offered us and which it has delivered to us during our period of membership. When we joined, we were very much the poor boys in the class. Our standard of living was way below average, our economy was considerably under-developed by European standards and our infrastructure generally was only in the ha'penny place.
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