An event was held in Dublin, Ireland this week titled ‘Irexit: Freedom to Prosper’ which discussed whether or not Ireland should leave the European Union.
The event took place at the RDS Arena in Dublin, Ireland this weekend. The event was organised by the EFDD (Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy) group and featured guest speakers including Brexit campaign leader Nigel Farage, Irish journalist John Waters, Professor Anthony Coughlan, Dr. Karen Devine, Cormac Lucey and Councillor James Charity. The event was moderated by the EFDD groups communications director Hermann Kelly.
The event began with a speech from Professor Anthony Coughlan, an Associate Professor Emeritus in Social Policy at Trinity College Dublin, and Director of the National Platform EU Research and Information Centre, Ireland, an EU-critical think-tank.
Coughlan wrote the booklet distributed at the event, titled ‘Is Irexit Necessary That We Can Be Free To Prosper?’
Throughout his speech he stated that the European Union was an anti-democratic project and outlined how the organization had become dominated by a few European countries: “Politically the EU is a Franco-German racket, an attempt by Berlin, with Paris holding on to its coat-tails, to dominate Europe by peaceful means, having failed to do that by brute force in World Wars I and II.
“The PESCO scheme, which Ireland’s politicians have shamefully signed up to, is a significant step in pushing the EU towards a military union to supplement the economic and political union that was brought into being by the Treaty of Lisbon which gave the EU its Constitution,” said Coughlan.
Dr. Karen Devine, a Lecturer in European Union politics and policies from Dublin City University, discussed her study of Brexit and why she refuses to be paid by the European Commission to push a pro-EU stance in her lectures: “I am an academic who focuses on the study of the European Union, and it is important to say that I teach and research the EU from a position of independence and disinterestedness in the European federalist project.
“I am not a Jean Monnet lecturer, which means I am not one of those academics who are willing to be paid by the European Commission, firstly, to promote European integration in the delivery of teaching in universities, and secondly, to act as PR agents spreading EU’s point of view in the media and in other forums.”
Irish Journalist John Waters also spoke at the event, claiming that Ireland has never successfully obtained independence, even after gaining independence from the UK, “Irish Independence might well be a good idea, but we have never attained it,” stated Waters. “We obtained nominal independence just after one horrific world war, and struggled to breathe over the next several decades, which were punctuated by another world war. It was the 1960s before we began to see a straight and even road ahead of us, and no sooner had it manifested in front than we surrendered our independence yet again, this time to a nascent European Superstate, which immediately began to work on our known propensity for dependency and, in effect, to makes Ireland a prisoner of its alleged largesse and its undoubted agendas.”
After Waters’s speech, UKIP MEP Nigel Farage appeared to discuss Brexit and the state of the European Union. The veteran campaigner stated during his speech that Brexit was the proudest moment of his career, and he referred to the EU as a “con from the very start” and questioned what was happening in the politics of Ireland and who was representing the country abroad.
Farage asked, “What on earth is going on in the politics of this country? … How much more humiliated can the Irish nation be than for years being run by the Troika?”
Farage also noted that Ireland was now a net contributor to the EU, stating: “You are paying into the European budget and your Taoiseach said in Strasbourg the other week he is happy for Ireland to pay even more into the European budget… Are you pleased about that?”
Breitbart London has published an exclusive interview with Farage which can be read here.
Hundreds packed the RDS auditorium to watch the event, fans of the UK MEP were present throughout the crowd, some even donning T-shirts featuring Farage’s face,
Farage left the stage stating that while it was now up to Ireland to decide their fate in the EU, he would be happy to “hop on a plane to Dublin,” if he could be of any help in the future. Following Farage’s speech, the crowd rose to their feet giving the politician a standing ovation,
Near the end of the event, a single protester appeared, beginning his protest by whistling from the back of the hall before beginning to wave an EU flag above his head. The man was promptly removed by security,
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com
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