Ireland and Turkey's EU accession

[Dermot]

I’m a student of journalism from Belgium. For the course in International Politics we are going to discuss Turkey's accession to the European Union in Brussels. It’s a kind of role-playing and I have to represent the Republic of Ireland.

What is the opinion of Ireland on Turkey’s EU accession? I’ve already found out that Ireland has been supportive of Turkey’s application to join the EU. What was the reason for it? In 2001 Ireland said no to the Nice treaty and avoided for a little while to admit new member states. At this moment 40% of Irish people are in favour of Turkey's accession and 32% are opposed. (Eurobarometer july '06)

If Turkey would join the EU, Ireland would lose power in the EU. So why does Dermot Ahern support Turkey's accession?


(I know that there are already several topics on this matter on this forum but the discussion strayed from the subject)

[gaelach]

So why does Dermot Ahern support Turkey's accession?

God only knows.

[ibis]

I’m a student of journalism from Belgium. For the course in International Politics we are going to discuss Turkey's accession to the European Union in Brussels. It’s a kind of role-playing and I have to represent the Republic of Ireland.

What is the opinion of Ireland on Turkey’s EU accession? I’ve already found out that Ireland has been supportive of Turkey’s application to join the EU. What was the reason for it? In 2001 Ireland said no to the Nice treaty and avoided for a little while to admit new member states. At this moment 40% of Irish people are in favour of Turkey's accession and 32% are opposed. (Eurobarometer july '06)

If Turkey would join the EU, Ireland would lose power in the EU. So why does Dermot Ahern support Turkey's accession?


(I know that there are already several topics on this matter on this forum but the discussion strayed from the subject)

To be fair the "No to Nice" had very little to do with the actual Treaty or the question of accession. Mostly we wanted to give the political classes a good kick in the teeth. Every major party in Ireland backed a Yes vote, and it was assumed we'd just automatically do what they said was good for us, and the Treaty was barely explained - in fact the political classes literally said "ooh it's a complicated treaty, just vote Yes" (I still have the leaflet somewhere). We all knew that it was so important that we'd get to vote again, so we gave them a bit of a kick, which they didn't like.

[grandad]

I’m a student of journalism from Belgium. For the course in International Politics we are going to discuss Turkey's accession to the European Union in Brussels. It’s a kind of role-playing and I have to represent the Republic of Ireland.

What is the opinion of Ireland on Turkey’s EU accession? I’ve already found out that Ireland has been supportive of Turkey’s application to join the EU. What was the reason for it? In 2001 Ireland said no to the Nice treaty and avoided for a little while to admit new member states. At this moment 40% of Irish people are in favour of Turkey's accession and 32% are opposed. (Eurobarometer july '06)

If Turkey would join the EU, Ireland would lose power in the EU. So why does Dermot Ahern support Turkey's accession?


(I know that there are already several topics on this matter on this forum but the discussion strayed from the subject)

i cannot for the life of me, contemplate what the irish goverments thinking on this matter is,given that we are already swamped with over 400,000 non-nationals here ,in a time span of less than seven yrs. it beggars belief!!!
our politicians are not listening to the concerns of the irish people.
we have a general election coming up in the next few months it is the biggest issue that this country has ever had to face
.if we dont get to grips with this issue(immigration-aslyum
by this up coming election i believe our chanches of changing anything thereafter will have gone and so will our country.!!!!!!!!!!!!!

is mise grandad

[FutureTaoiseach]

The govt sortof favours Turkish entry but Bertie Ahern some time ago said in a newspaper interview that Turkish entry would cause "problems". That suggests he may not be so favourable to it after all. It would probably require a referendum to let them in as the Nice Treaty theoretically only provided for 27 EU member states and with Romania and Bulgaria that will have been reached. I think the current mood of the Irish people will be to reject Turkish entry. Polls already show widespread anxieties about immigration and displacement of Irish workers as a result of the last EU Enlargement.

[redneckwally]

Ireland should not support Turkey's entry. We have enough muslims in Europe already. Look at the problems in England and France. Ireland is still a very catholic country and most Irish people want Europe to remain a Christian club.

[ibis]

Ireland should not support Turkey's entry. We have enough muslims in Europe already. Look at the problems in England and France. Ireland is still a very catholic country and most Irish people want Europe to remain a Christian club.

As so often, this statement assumes, in defiance of normal mathematics, that the 40% of Irish people who support Turkish accession somehow "weigh less" than the 32% against, and that, in defiance of the normal rules of polling, the 32% actually represent a "huge silent majority" against accession.

[Nordy_Trinnerhead]

Ireland should not support Turkey's entry. We have enough muslims in Europe already. Look at the problems in England and France. Ireland is still a very catholic country and most Irish people want Europe to remain a Christian club.

You certainly don't speak for me you tepid racist.

I, as an Irishman am fully in support of Turkeys accession into the EU, but only once Turkey clears up its human rights record. It recently let Orhan Pamuk out of jail, but it needs to clear that law which persecutes people 'for insulting Turkishness'

As for the fear that we will be somehow swamped by Muslims (And it amuses me how people get so afraid of this thought), here is my breakdown of that argument:

Turkey has a GDP of 2,500 dollars roughly. It will take over 15 years for Turkey to accede and with economic growth booming at + 7%, it will mean that the Turkish economy will be at a much better level than the Polish economy was when it acceded to the EU. So it would only be a hysteria to assume we would get as many Turkish immigrants as we have gotten Polish/Lithuanian/Latvian immigrants.

[codology]

Ihope that Turkey is never allowed into the E U,Iit has a deplorable human rights record(its treatment of the Kurds is almost as bad as Saddams),it still regards women as second class citizens,its role in Cyprus is most undemocratic and above all its NOT in europe

[Wednesday]

above all its NOT in europe

Why didn't anyone ever raise that complaint when Cyprus wanted to join?