Invitation: The Journal presents "Open Newsroom: 50 year of Ireland and the EU", 23 June

Posted on 21 Jun 2022

Poster

The Journal invites you to a live webinar looking at the early years of Ireland in the EU - and what our relationship and influence is there now.

When: Thursday 23 June 1-2pm 

Where: Online

A majority of Irish people voted in May 1972 to join the then European Economic Community (EEC), now the European Union (EU).

In this special webinar, we are delighted to welcome two people whose careers and lives have been intertwined with European affairs at either side of these 50 years in the EU.

Fionnuala Richardson was a civil servant in the very early years of Ireland's accession to the EU, working in Luxembourg, and later in Brussels, as part of the Socialist grouping in the parliament.

Barry Colfer is the current Director of Research at the International Institute of European Affairs, Ireland's leading think tank on the EU and beyond.

Journal Media's Susan Daly will moderate a conversation that will span what motivated Ireland to join the European project to begin with, what concerns and hopes the country had back in the 1970s - and whether those fears and dreams were realised. And, with 50 years behind us in the EU, are we more closely aligned than ever with our European allies; or is it time to take stock?