ABSTRACT
On 26 July 1961, Harold Macmillan, the UK prime minister, informally told the taoiseach, Sean Lemass, that his government had finally come to a decision to join the EEC as a full member. With respect to this hotly-debated issue, Macmillan wrote that: 'after weighing all the considerations we have reached the conclusion that the right course for us is to seek to enter into negotiations with the Six'.' This move, hardly unexpected, consigned to the past what had been an uncertain period of hypothesising and speculation regarding Ireland's own future role within Europe's integration process. Indeed, as a direct result of this entreaty by London, one of Dublin's central foreign policy dilemmas - over whether or not to establish an explicit relationship with the EEC — suddenly gained the sense of definition that it had heretofore been lacking. As a consequence, the taoiseach formally initiated what has become the single-most important policy development in the Irish state's post Second World War history, forming part of the first concerted attempt by the countries of Europe to build upon the sense of community awakened by the Six some years previously. Unquestionably, the essential ingredient in Dublin's decision was the fact that London had decided to do the same; additionally, it also marked the definitive transition of Irish foreign policy from being decided by political considerations to being determined by economic factors.
