ABSTRACT
Ireland failed to gain admission to the EEC at the first time of asking, following a relatively brief negotiations period between July 1961 and January 1963 in which it did not participate to any great degree; indeed, there was no real progress on its application until October 1962. This disappointing outcome was on the surface primarily due to the intransigence invariably exhibited towards the UK's application by the French president. Dublin's distinctive bid was still entirely contingent upon the success or otherwise of its neighbours negotiations, a factor over which it patently exercised no substantive control. Indeed, once France acted negatively and decisively towards this one applicant, it effectively did so for all the prospective members - Denmark, Ireland, Norway, and the UK. History has shown, however, that Ireland's request for full membership was not refused per se; its application had, in point of fact, been almost entirely ignored. That is why the Irish bid for membership, essentially a reaction to London's decision to negotiate entry, failed in the early 1960s.1 The reasons why it was overlooked go way beyond its links to the UK or the latter's application; Ireland failed to join the EEC for reasons all of its own, essentially because it was economically unable to do so by itself.
