Ireland and the EU: The First 50 Years - Lecture by Ambassador of Ireland to Australia, H.E. Mr Mawe

A personal look at the last five decades of Ireland’s EU Membership by the Ambassador of Ireland to Australia, H.E. Mr Tim Mawe.
In this lecture the Ambassador of Ireland to Australia, H.E. Mr Tim Mawe, takes a personal look back at the last five decades of Ireland’s membership of the EU.
It is a period that has been punctuated by significant developments including the implementation of a common agricultural policy (CAP); the evolution of the single market and state aid and tax agenda; significant investment in European infrastructure and cohesion; introduction of a common currency; and the broadening and deepening of the Union.
It is also a period in which the EU and its member states have had to respond to serious challenges including the 1970s oil crisis; deindustrialisation; the collapse of the Warsaw Pact; the global financial crisis, Brexit and most recently the invasion of Ukraine. For much of this period, EU developments were undertaken against the backdrop of violence in Northern Ireland.
Over this period, Ireland has been a key European contributor in the process of EU integration. As Ambassador Mawe will demonstrate, this recent history has at once sculpted and strengthened the socio-economic fabric of Ireland today.
H.E. Mr Tim Mawe currently holds the position of the Ambassador of Ireland to Australia. He has previously served as Regional Director for Asia Pacific in Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Ireland’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, as Ambassador to Latvia and as Head of Finance and Head of Planning for Ireland’s last EU Presidency.
Recorded 19 May 2022