ABSTRACT
It has been argued with some conviction that entry into the EEC in 1973 constituted one of the most decisive breaks in Irish economic history. John O’Brennan in particular has advanced the view that ‘For better or for worse, it is undoubtedly the case that the European integration process has had more impact than any other factor (internal or external) on the shape and performance of the Irish economy’.1 It is clear that entry into the EEC had a marked impact on many aspects of Irish economic governance, most notably with regard to agriculture and competition, and more recently with macro-economic management. The EEC/EU in particular opened up the largest market in the world; today 27 member states constitute a market of 500 million people. This has had major implications for the expansion of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Irish economy, which by 2005 was the highest in the EU for factories, plant and offices in terms of its equivalence to GDP.2
