This collection draws together a wide field of original sources from across Europe to reveal how Belgian, French, Italian, Luxembourg, Dutch, and West German politicians, policymakers and commentators perceived independent Ireland from the end of the Second World War until Irish accession to the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973. The postwar analysis is placed in the context of older historical interactions. This collection is based on copious untapped official sources of the Six and the EEC, in addition to Irish government archives. Its contemporary relevance promises to interest...

This groundbreaking book is an indispensable contribution to appreciating the dilemmas facing Ireland in the 'age of Brexit'. Encompassing an exhaustive account, it traces the relationship between Ireland and FRG by drawing on original material from both. It critiques depictions of Irish-German relations as peculiarly affable and explores the problems presented by trade, Britain, neutrality, NATO, Northern Ireland and the Cold War. The work contends the German 'economic miracle' was a vital stimulus for Ireland's tardy retreat from protectionism. It maintains that Ireland's reorientation was...