The domino effect

Britain is leaving. Le Pen is rising. Merkel is flagging. Europe is at a crossroads. And Ireland is increasingly isolated

Taoiseach Enda Kenny attends a joint news conference with German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin Picture: Getty

Brexit. Trump. Leprechaun economics. Base erosion and profit shifting. Apple. Job losses. QE. TTIP. There’s seemingly no end to the list of threats to Ireland’s infamously small, open economy. To that list, we can now add another: France.

For a long time, France was effectively a second-tier power in Europe, with little influence on Ireland’s fortunes. Ireland does ...