/1 Personal anecdote: my dad, who voted against Ireland joining the EEC in 1972 and against every EU treaty revision thereafter, confirmed to me during the week that he is now a confirmed believer in Ireland’s membership of the EU. Why? Well, two reasons:
/2 First, he saw how the EU26 stood with Ireland and back its interests during the Brexit negotiations.

Second, the Brexit negotiations and all the talk about the Customs Union and Single Market has brought home the clear economic benefits of membership.
/3 For my dad, and many in his generation, independence was a major concern. They saw the EU often as diluting that. What became evident during the Brexit negotiations, is that EU membership gave Ireland the economic/political strength to act independently of the UK in a way ...
/4 that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.

So, while Brexit divided Britain, it appears to have united Ireland in recognition of the benefits of EU membership.

And removed a point of contention between myself and my dad.
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