In those days the EU was like a fairy godmother to us. Out of the goodness of its heart Europe was happy to pour resources into this country to bring it up to the European average. Side by side with that, we were able to exploit our low-cost environment to offer ourselves as a manufacturing base for American and Japanese who were looking to get a foot into the fast growing European market. That is now all in the past. Our standard of living is now above the European average. Our economy is highly developed and we have become a manufacturing and services base in a global economy. Our infrastructure is still lagging behind, but that is largely our own fault for the way we have mismanaged it. Our fellow member states across Europe can certainly look at Ireland with a sense of pride in what they have done for us. However, as they do so, they, even more than us, must be fully aware that the days of handouts to Ireland are now finally over.