EU Influences on the Irish Economy

EU membership has had a huge impact on the Irish economy since 1973. The neo-colonial link to Britain has been broken – economic independence means that Ireland no longer relies on Britain for the majority of imports / exports. Access to the EU market has attracted huge amounts of foreign direct investment from MNCs. The huge transfer of funds (money) from the EU to Ireland (€46 billion between 1973 and 2001) has raised Irish GNP by 4% and brought huge improvements to the infrastructure. EU laws and regulations have improved safety, environments etc in Ireland.

Negative effects include: The loss of control of some of the natural resources - e.g. Fish stocks. Collapse of many small manufacturing industries due to the removal of tariffs and quotas in the free-trade markets e.g. Textiles, food processing.

The major influences on the Irish economy include: Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Transfer of funds – e.g. Structural funds, cohesion funds.