I have just returned from Ireland. I have never been there before and wondered what, if anything, this near neighbour could teach us. I am much aware of Ireland’s difficult history, and how they have not been treated at all well by their English neighbours. I was expecting some antipathy but did not experience any. Most people, particularly young people, were very friendly and helpful.
I was in the Wicklow mountains area, south of Dublin most of the time, and noticed how much better their natural environment is than ours. A greater proportion is wooded, and there plenty of luxuriant hedgerows beside the fields and roads. You immediately notice a far healthier biodiversity, butterflies and a variety of insects. As we all know it rains a great deal in Ireland, and the countryside is very green, but I gained the impression that the country was more environmentally aware than we are.
History
Ireland has not had a very happy history. Occupation by absentee landlords stopped the development of heavy industry, and most of the country is still rural, and landlords wanted to keep it like that. As a result, there has been considerable outward migration, the most spectacular was after the potato famine. Many American presidents have been proud of their Irish ancestry. Now this migration has ceased. Ireland now has a much younger population than most of its European neighbours. Membership of the EU, and until recently very favourable corporate tax laws, have encouraged many international firms to settle there, and Ireland now has flourishing pharmaceutical and IT industries. The country is now prosperous and lively. The rather grim view of the Irish countryside as depicted in Irish films like the Banshees of Inisherin isn’t true.
There is no longer a problem of the lively and talented going elsewhere, but Ireland, like us, is concerned about immigration and how to limit it. The level of education in Ireland is high, and a young, energetic and educated workforce is a draw for modern industries. The idea of the Irish being backward and uneducated, which even Engels propagated, is certainly not true now if it ever was.
The high level of education has contributed to the development of a very liberal society. Gay marriage and abortion rights have been established here and the Catholic church is no longer has the cultural force it used to be. I witnessed a very large and lively Pride march.
Attitude to history
But I think the aspect of Ireland, which differs from us, and struck me most, is their attitude to history. The Irish are very proud of their history and make much of the fact that a thriving culture was maintained here in the first millennium CE, in the period often referred to as the “dark ages” after the departure of the Romans from our shores. Recent archaeology has shown that these ages were perhaps not so dark as they are often depicted, but Ireland still maintained Roman culture and literature when it was challenged on the mainland, and later was able to export it back and help establish the thriving Christian communities in Northumbria. The Irish approach to Christianity, the Celtic Church was far more community based than the strict hierarchy of the Roman Church which later dominated. I often wonder what would have happened if it had not, and the Celtic Church had prevailed, but that is something for another article.
You are made very aware of Irish history, and the Irish are very proud of it. I walked along a military road, built specifically to enable British troops to march from their barracks into Dublin to put down unrest. The excellent GPO museum in Dublin explains very well the events which led to independence. But what is different from us is that the Irish do not let their history warp their view of the present, as we, unfortunately, often do. They seem to have embraced the opportunities of the modern world and become a prosperous, tolerant, and lively society.
I feel that this country is constrained and even shackled by its history. Because we survived without being defeated in the Second World War (admittedly with American and Russian help) we still feel we are a great power in the world and do not need to cooperate with others. I remember someone saying to me during the EU referendum campaign “But we used to be a great country. Why can’t we be one now?”. Other countries once had empires, but they have realised the world has changed. We still think our past means we are “exceptional”.
I think our desire to operate on our own holds us back. The Irish no longer seem to be constrained by their often-depressing history and have embraced the modern world with enthusiasm. They are no longer a poor country whose youth want to leave. They are a very good example of how a small country has benefitted by joining with others in the EU.
We on the other had feel we are different and too important to cooperate with other nations. That was one of the motives behind voting to come out of Europe. We can see the results for our country now. The Irish have managed to put their history behind them and are succeeding in the world as it is. We should do the same.
