Irexit: is Nigel Farage encouraging Ireland to leave the EU?
Former UKIP leader’s Dublin visit fuels fears of “Irish Brexit” bid
Ireland has shown little indication that it regrets joining the EU in 1973, but Nigel Farage hopes to change that with a trip to Dublin this weekend.
The former UKIP leader will address Trinity College later today and is backing a so-called Irexit conference on Saturday. “Both events are stirring up controversy,” Bloomberg reports.
Fine Gael Senator Neale Richmond has called Farage’s Irexit: Freedom to Prosper conference a “sham gathering” aimed at promoting incorrect information about Ireland’s role in the EU, according to the Irish Independent. Among other things, the promotional video for the conference claims that Ireland’s low corporation tax rate - incorrectly stated as 12% rather than the actual 12.5% - is under attack from Brussels, but Richmond insists Ireland has a “rock-solid veto on this area”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Farage has called Richmond an “EU federalist fanatic” and insists that the EU is preparing to “shaft” Ireland’s corporate tax regime, says the newspaper.
Eurosceptic MEP Farage, a major driving force behind the Leave campaign, also sparred with Leo Varadkar a couple of weeks ago, accusing the Irish prime minister of trying to overturn the British vote, the Irish Examiner reports.
Polls have shown that Ireland’s support for the EU bloc remains high, despite a referendum vote against the Lisbon Treaty in 2008, which was reversed the following year.
Trinity finance lecturer Cormac Lucey - who has called on Ireland to leave the euro currency and who will address Saturday’s conference - told Bloomberg that Ireland should at least think about its relationship with the EU.
“Because the EU worked so well for Ireland for the last three decades, we presume it will do so for the next three decades,” Lucey says. “I’m not in favour of leaving the EU tomorrow but we need to fundamentally reassess our relationship with it.”
There have been media reports that far-left campaigners are planning a protest against Farage at the university later today. However, according to Trinity News, Ireland’s oldest student newspaper, the Facebook page advertising the demonstration has been linked to a fake account set up by far-right trolls to confuse people.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Cicada-geddon: the fungus that controls insects like 'zombies'
Under The Radar Expert says bugs will develop 'hypersexualisation' despite their genitals falling off
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
'Voters know Biden and Trump all too well'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Is the Gaza war tearing US university campuses apart?
Today's Big Question Protests at Columbia University, other institutions, pit free speech against student safety
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Myanmar: the Spring Revolution and the downfall of the generals
Talking Point An armed protest movement has swept across the country since the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi was overthrown in 2021
By The Week Staff Published
-
Israel hits Iran with retaliatory airstrike
Speed Read The attack comes after Iran's drone and missile barrage last weekend
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Is there a peaceful way forward for Israel and Iran?
Today's Big Question Tehran has initially sought to downplay the latest Israeli missile strike on its territory
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Sudan on brink of collapse after a year of war
Speed Read 18 million people face famine as the country continues its bloody downward spiral
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How powerful is Iran?
Today's big question Islamic republic is facing domestic dissent and 'economic peril' but has a vast military, dangerous allies and a nuclear threat
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
US, Israel brace for Iran retaliatory strikes
Speed Read An Iranian attack on Israel is believed to be imminent
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How green onions could swing South Korea's election
The Explainer Country's president has fallen foul of the oldest trick in the campaign book, not knowing the price of groceries
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Ukraine's battle to save Kharkiv from Putin's drones
The Explainer Country's second-largest city has been under almost daily attacks since February amid claims Russia wants to make it uninhabitable
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published