Éire / Ireland

Good article. This is the problem of "small government", as I see it. In our case it means "small vision".

I remember travelling around Europe a good few years ago. Usually when I travelled, people would be positive about Ireland and it even kicked off some really spontaneous and positive memories. That changed when Ireland, as data commissioner, was seen to have betrayed other citizens in the EU by helping US companies break privacy rights of EU citizens. We also obfuscated access to justice for europeans. We went from being seen as a friendly small nation to foot soldiers of Uncle Sam's corporatism. I don't think we have recovered from that aspect of reputational damage, and the current Fine Gael + far-right partnership the EU don't bode well for the future.

I don't see how FFG can be convinced to change their approach when they keep getting voted back in by the electorate (although in dwindling numbers). I think our only hope is that the opposition can make compelling enough argument to convince voters to break the habit of a lifetime, before the foreign disinformation campaigns do.