IS it Time to being the process of leaving the EU behind.
0 voters
Remember this one from 2011?
How can we forget the infamous bendy Bananas regulations - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_Regulation_(EC_No_2257/94
Much like the ban on bulbs (incandescent lamps in favour of fluorescent) there will be loop holes.
Re-brand it, re box it.
More Torygraph propaganda? Google Euromyths for the full list of tripe peddled by the the Little Englanders
Do you ever ask yourself why these regulations are issue?
This is a useful article on those damned bureaucrats
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Why Europe needs cross-border lawnmower regulations - FT.com on.ft.com/GWm613 via @FT
BTW it’s estimated to save 18.8 TWh of electricity per year by 2020, and 6.4 Mt of CO2.
Time to leave the EU?
No.
Daftness of the highest order.
Stoppit now.
Get an early night and thing will look different in the morning.
Why not ban them altogether then? And motorised transport. Sure, what’s wrong with a broom and a bicycle?
Leave the Eurozone, absolutely.
Leave the EU, not so pushed.
And deficit spending?
Agree
Out of he EMU, bring back the punt, but stay in EU. Ireland’s best economic period was the only time of an true free float (1993-1999 ish)
If the dirt needs a 1600W or more power to shift it, then chances are either the vacuum cleaner is awful or you’re better off using a shovel!
I would assume this is domestic units only.
So you’d prefer they were regulated by 27 different countries?
People assume that getting rid of EU regulations means less red tape. Not necessarily…
Europe is about the only thing that makes this country bareable. Ireland has developed so much since 1973. Not all of that is thanks to europe, but a good portion of it is.
We have to take the rough with smooth no matter what system we are in. It is also about the irish politicians, regulators, bankers we send to deal with europe.
Maintain and pay for another parliament it’s just too expensive and we can not efford that.
LEAVE NOW EU AND EUROZONE. No questions about it.
What?
+1
I’ve never once found myself “bumping off” a euro regulation. I don’t see a problem with any vacuum cleaner reg. Meanwhile we get quite good regs like regulating roaming fees for mobile carriers.
Irish laws, on the other hand, are daft, and enforced unevenly. I was going to refer to recent abortion case, but let’s be less current but also less contentious: Nora Owen’s intervention to prevent the screening of Natural Born Killers by the IFC. First that it was ever banned, second that the legal avenue that allowed the art-house cinema to screen the movie was blocked, and third that it was blocked by a kind of intimidation rather than an actual legislative process (don’t show it or we’ll be back with new laws that’ll shut you down).
Irish governments have a habit of using Europe as a bogie man which means that if I hear a representative of govt moaning about being forced to do or not do something by Europe, I automatically assume they are being economical with la verité. If the country leaves the EU but tries to stay in some sort of a trade bloc like the EEA, they’ll get all the rules of the EU foisted on them with none of the input to temper them in the country’s interest. That might be fine if we’re Norway or maybe Switzerland. We’re not. If the alternative is isolationalism, well frankly that’s really worked out well in the past courtesy of Dev, right?
I have a lot of rights in Ireland including the right to equal pay courtesy of the European framework. I’ve seen the country heavily built up with infrastructure investment over the years. EU membership has contributed significantly to our FDI ability. Contact with Europe has massively opened our horizons in terms of cooperation on a research and education level as well.
Frankly, I see zero plus points to exiting the EU and a lot of plus points to staying there.
We’d have avoided a lot of the fall out from our economic melt down by applying rules more effectively here in terms of banking regulation and consumer credit and we might have avoided the whole troika thing. Our ability to look after ourselves is not focussed solely on our way to adjust interest rates. There were other regulations in terms of banking deposits at the lender of last resort which we could have applied.
In my view, not being in the EU or being in the EU and not having the euro would not have helped us any. Most of our problems were caused by refusing to face reality; something which is still happening - see the fun and games around property in Dublin, the complete absence of spatial planning on a national scale, our inability to build decent public transport in any of the cities and our piecemeal planning. I don’t see that problem being resolved if we float our way out of the EU or the euro either which way. The problems we have in this country tend to be of our own making.
I’d be afraid if we left the EU that without their oversight and regulation we’d truely become a banana republic.
+1, the Fiscal compact is the only reason we are being remotely responsible.
Where is the 3% deficit target coming from? Our European overlords of course!
This debate reminds me a little of the scene in The Life of Brian where the Judean People Front (or is it the People’s Front of Judea) ask the question What have the Roman’s ever done for us? They then go on to a list a number of positive things which renders the original question null and void.
For me, this Calina has been spot on in some of her points, she could have also mentioned environmental issues and air travel both of which have improved, particularly the costs of the latter, due to EU law and subsequent enforcement. The EU architecture, flawed and all as it is, also gives citizens another avenue to approach.
While its good to debate the issues, the OP’s original lazy sterotyping was a bit disappointing.
I agree that some elements of European governance seem superior to local alternatives, but Ireland has been exceptionally lucky post-2008 that European institutions have chosen (and been forced by French and Italian concerns) to adopt policies favourable to it (e.g. low interest rates and Draghi put).
These actions were not taken to protect the Irish economy and it could easily have been different - Ireland could have gone the way of Cyprus or Greece and the Germans wouldn’t have batted an eyelid.